National Care Standards Review: Consultation Analysis

2 Introduction

2.1 National Care Standards were established in 2002 to help people to understand what to expect from care services and to help services understand the standards they should deliver. There are currently 23 sets of standards which cover a wide range of care services from childminders and nurseries to care homes and independent hospitals.

2.2 Significant changes have occurred since 2002 in terms of demographics (for example, an ageing population); greater focus on community and home settings for care rather than institutional models of care provision; integration of health and social care; greater emphasis on user-empowerment and choice of care (e.g. through self-directed support); and priority afforded to human rights-based approaches to planning services and delivering care.

2.3 The Scottish Government wishes the 2002 National Care Standards to be updated and improved to meet current expectations and models of service. Central to its proposals are that people working in health and care services should have a common understanding of what quality means and they should work to common core values, through the introduction of quality standards for health and care services.

2.4 Scoping work with a range of stakeholders informed the development of a consultation paper which the Scottish Government published on 25 June 2014 in a variety of formats including easy-read, large print and on-line. The main consultation paper posed 14 questions, eight of which included a closed aspect in addition to inviting qualitative commentary. Views were invited by 17 September 2014 on proposals to update the care standards. The views expressed in the responses will inform further discussions with stakeholders and the introduction of new standards in April 2015.

2.5 This report presents the analysis of views contained in the responses to the consultation. These responses have been made publicly available on the Scottish Government website unless the respondent has specifically requested otherwise. Consultation responses

2.6 The Scottish Government received 475 responses to the consultation. Table 2.1 overleaf shows the distribution of responses by category of respondent. A full list of the organisations who responded is in Annex 1. In addition, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, Age Scotland and Social Care Alliance Scotland hosted 10 events in partnership with the Scottish Government to capture the views of people who use services.

2.7 Just over half (52%) of all respondents were individuals, including members of the public, service users, and those with experience of working in the care services profession. The largest organisation sector to respond was voluntary organisations and groups which accounted for just under one-quarter (22%) of all respondents

Table 2.1: Distribution of responses by category of respondent

NB Percentages do not total 100% exactly due to rounding.

2.8 Most respondents submitted their response on-line, some using Citizen Space submission which was available until the deadline for responding, others emailing their completed response form. 18 respondents used the easy read version of the response form. Many responses comprised summaries from user-group discussions which resulted in a higher proportion of "mixed view" responses to the closed aspects of questions than would be usual. Although 475 responses were received, the views of many more respondents are reflected in these, on account of the significant number of group and workshop discussions which fed into individual responses. The views contained in all submissions were amalgamated into one electronic spreadsheet to aid analysis

Report of findings

2.9 The findings are presented in the following 6 chapters. Chapter 3 summarises views on whether the new National Care Standards should be grounded in human rights. In Chapter 4 views on a proposed new, hierarchical structure for the National Care Standards are analysed. Chapter 5 presents views on how standards should be written. Views on accountability and enforcement of the standards are presented in Chapter 6. Respondents' views on the potential impacts of the proposals, either positive or negative, are documented in Chapter 7. Other significant comments over and above those raised specifically on the questions posed in the consultation are summarised in Chapter 8.

Respondent categories have been abbreviated in the report as follows: