Proposals for an Offence of Wilful Neglect or ill-treatment in Health and Social Care Settings: Consultation Analysis

2 The Consultation Responses and Respondents

2.1 This section provides details about the individuals and organisations that took part in the consultation.

Number of responses received

2.2 Altogether, the consultation received 103 responses - 8 from individuals and 95 from organisations (Table 2.1). Most of the responses were received by email, while a small number were received by post. In addition, most respondents (88%) submitted their views using the consultation questionnaire, or a modified version of the questionnaire, while the remainder submitted their comments in free text - often in the form of a letter. In general, the comments submitted by this latter group of respondents addressed the consultation questions, but often also included additional material not directly related to the questions asked.

Table 2.1: Number and type of respondents

2.3 The organisational respondents included NHS and local government organisations; third sector agencies (both service providers and those with a co-ordination / representative role); agencies responsible for the scrutiny and regulation of professional practice and / or services; a range of organisations that support, train or represent health and social care professionals; and organisations concerned with the practice of law. (See Table 2.2.) Annex 2 provides a complete list of the organisations that responded to the consultation.

Table 2.2: Organisational respondents

Approach to the analysis

2.4 The approach to the analysis was mainly qualitative in nature - that is, the aim was to identify the main themes raised by respondents in their free text comments. Since these comments were made spontaneously, it is not appropriate to report counts for the different themes raised.

2.5 Most of the consultation questions included a yes / no question - asking respondents to indicate whether they agreed with the Scottish Government's proposals on specific issues. In some cases, respondents using the questionnaire did not tick the box to indicate 'yes' or 'no'. Other respondents did not submit their views using the consultation questionnaire form. In both of these cases, yes / no responses have been imputed on the basis of an analysis of the respondents' comments. However, if it was not clear from the respondent's comments whether they agreed or disagreed with the proposal, if they expressed uncertainty about their views, or if their comments discussed the pros and cons of a particular proposal, without stating their own view, their response was coded as 'unclear'.

2.6 Throughout this report, the figures shown in tables include these imputed responses. Note, however, that not all respondents answered all questions, and therefore, the total number of responses varies for each question, as shown in the tables.