National Care Standards - Easy Read Version

National Care Standards: Easy Read Summary

The National Care Standards were made to help people understand what they should expect from care services.

They also help services understand the standards that they should deliver.

The Scottish Government want the standards to be updated and made better. They asked lots of people about how they could improve the standards.

This easy read summary will tell you what people said.

The Scottish Government believe that the new National Care Standards should focus on people's human rights.

This means that people who use services would be very involved in saying how services are planned and delivered.

92% of people agreed with the Scottish Government.

They said that it is important that all people are treated the same.

They also said that this will give people who use services the chance to be more involved in making important decisions.

Some people were worried that there might not be enough money to improve some services. This means that some people might not get the quality of service that they are expecting.

The Scottish Government asked if they should make a set of general standards that can be used in all services.

82% of people who answered this question agreed that a set of general standards should be made.

Some people said that the general standards would be very helpful to people:

• Who move from one service to another
• Who are using the system for the first time
• Who are using more than one type of service
• Who are delivering care across more than one type of service

Some people were worried that general standards might be less useful. They think that it might be more difficult to see how well services are working.

The Scottish Government think that the National Care Standards should reflect people's needs just now. They should also think about what will happen in the future.

75% of people agreed with this.

People thought that this would help to improve the quality of care through all services. It would help people to want to keep making services better.

Some people said it would make the standards more complicated.

Most people want the standards to make care services provide very good care for people using them now.

Most people did not think that services providing poor care should say they are working to make services better in the future.

The Scottish Government asked if sets of individual standards should be developed for certain areas of care and need.

79% of people said that they agreed that sets of individual standards should be developed for certain areas of care and need.

People said that this would be more meaningful and helpful.

Some people felt that this would be a better way to see how well services are doing.

Others said that this would make people who provide services work together more.

Some people felt that there might be too many standards. The aim was to cut down on the number of standards.

Others said that it does not focus on the whole person and their needs.

The Scottish Government asked about how the standards should be written.

People said that the standards should be simple and easy to understand.

They should also make it clear when a service provider is not meeting the standards.

Other people said that there should be accessible versions of the standards.

This includes:

• Easy read
• Large print
• Braille
• Audio
• Other languages

Many people said that the standards should be written with:

• People who use services
• Carers
• People who provide services

The Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland make sure that services are being delivered properly. They have standards which services must work towards. The way they check that services are meeting the standards is being looked at.

The Scottish Government asked if the new standards should be used as part of this checking process.

88% of people agreed that they should.

People said that without the checking process the standards would not work as well.

The Scottish Government asked how they could make sure that services not regulated by the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland should follow the new standards.

People said that all providers of health and social care should become regulated.

Other people said that service providers and people who use services should be made aware of the standards. This means people will expect good standards.

It means that it will be easier to see when services are not meeting the standards.

The Scottish Government think the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland should develop the set of new standards. They should talk to other relevant people when they are doing this.

85% of people agreed with this.

People felt that developing the standards in this way would be meaningful and easy to follow.

Other comments

People need to talk more about the new standards before they become final.

The Scottish Government need to make sure that they talk to lots of different people.