National Care Standards Review

6. Next steps

This consultation is seeking views on the approach and scope of the review of National Care Standards and runs until 17^th September 2014. If there is support for the development of overarching quality standards for health and social care we propose to have these in place from April 2015.

Further consultation on the content of the new standards will take place during 2014-15.

Question 6

Please tell us if there is anything else you wish us to consider in the review of the National Care Standards that is not covered elsewhere in the consultation paper.

Summary of Consultation Questions

Question 1

Do you think that the new National Care Standards should be grounded in human rights?

Question 2

a. Do you agree that overarching quality standards should be developed for all health and social care in Scotland?

b. Do you agree that the overarching quality standards should set out essential requirements based on human rights?

c. Do you agree that the current National Care Standards should be streamlined and a set of general standards developed that would sit below the overarching standards and apply to all services?

d. Do you think general standards should set out essential requirements and aspirational elements?

e. Do you agree that a suite of specific standards are developed for particular aspects of care, circumstances or need?

Question 3

a. What are your views on how standards should be written?

b. What are your views on the example of how the rights and entitlements of people using services and the responsibilities of service providers could be set out?

Question 4

a. Do you think the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland should hold services they regulate to account for meeting the proposed overarching standards, the general standards and the suite of specific standards?

b. How should we ensure that services not regulated by the Care Inspectorate and Health Improvement Scotland comply with the new standards?

c. We suggest that the Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland, consulting with others, should develop the suite of specific standards. Do you agree with this?

Question 5

a. Please tell us about any potential impacts, either positive or negative, you feel any of the proposals set out in this consultation paper may have on particular groups of people, with reference to the 'protected characteristics' listed above.

b. Please tell us about any potential costs or savings that may occur as a result of the proposals set out in this consultation paper and any increase or reduction in the burden of regulation for any sector. Please be as specific as possible.

Question 6

Please tell us if there is anything else you wish us to consider in the review of the National Care Standards that is not covered elsewhere in the consultation paper.

How to respond

We are inviting responses to this consultation paper by 17^th September 2014. Please send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form to nationalcarestandardsreview@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or to:

Carly Nimmo
Mental Health and Protection of Rights Division
The Scottish Government
Area 3ER, St Andrews House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

We would be grateful if you would use the consultation questionnaire provided in the consultation document or clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Alternative formats and languages

If you require a copy of this paper in an alternative format or different language please contact us at the address above.

Next steps in the process

If you tell us we can make your response public we will put it in the Scottish Government Library and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any wording that might be harmful to others before putting them in the library or on the website. If you would like to see the responses please contact the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision about how to proceed with the review of National Care Standards. We will issue a report on this consultation process which will be published on the Scottish Government's website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent

Further consultation on the detailed content of the new standards will take place during 2014-15.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Lindsay Liddle
Mental Health and Protection of Rights Division
The Scottish Government
Area 3ER, St Andrews House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG