Government, Scotland Scottish

The same as you?’ (2000) was the original 10-year programme designed to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities in Scotland. It was highly successful in shifting the balance of care to support more people to live in the community. This new 10-year strategy sets out a vision for improved partnership working to deliver better outcomes for people with learning disabilities, and their families and carers. It has more than 50 recommendations, most of which are aimed at health.

This compendium of good practice and carers and young carers stories accompanies Caring Together and Getting it Right for Young Carers. Earlier in the year the Scottish Government invited local authorities, Health Boards, the Third Sector and other organisations in Scotland to submit examples of good practice about support for carers and young carers. They also invited personal ‘stories’ from carers and young carers.

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 was introduced to protect individuals with incapacity and to support their families and carers in managing and safeguarding the individuals’ welfare and finances. The Executive commissioned a two-year project to monitor how the Act was working. The results were positive, but showed that some changes could be made to streamline procedures and enable more adults and their carers to benefit from the Act.

The Scottish Government established the User and Carer Forum upon publication of Changing Lives, in order to provide an opportunity for service users and carers to directly influence and shape the development and implementation of the Changing Lives agenda. The Forum was particularly asked to follow up on the idea of Citizen Leadership and has developed a set of principles (with suggested standards and indicators to help demonstrate how these can apply) by which the leadership contribution of those who use services can be guided and supported.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are determined to ensure that carers are supported to manage their caring responsibilities with confidence and in good health, and to have a life of their own outside of caring. We are pleased to have worked together with a range of interests, including Health Boards, the national carer organisations and carers in developing this strategy. It will build on the support already in place and take forward the recommendations of the landmark report, Care 21: The Future of Unpaid Care in Scotland.

Statutory guidance on social care assessment for adults, children, young carers and adult carers in Scotland which explains who those duties are affected by the introduction of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013. It provides guidance on each stage of the person's pathway through support, including: the provision of information, support and advocacy; assessment and eligibility criteria; the duty to provide choice; support planning; and the role of the NHS and combined budgets.

In May 2012, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation to inform recommendations for legislation to support the integration of adult health and social care in Scotland. This report presents the views expressed by respondents to the consultation proposals.

Comments are invited on the National Minimum Standards for Assessment. This compendium sets out the national minimum information standards for all adults, covering Assessment, Shared Care and Support Plans and Review. It also includes national minimum information standards for the identification of needs and support for Carers (‘Carers Assessment’). It builds on and supersedes the National Minimum Information Standards for Single Shared Assessment issued in August 2006 (CCD3/2006).

This publication is the outcome of an extensive process of collaboration across Scotland, including the involvement of all special and territorial NHS Boards, Scottish Government Health and Community Care national improvement programmes, the Scottish Primary Care Cancer Group, the Care Commission, the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC), academic bodies, palliative care networks and key representatives of the voluntary sector, including voluntary hospices, national charities and umbrella bodies.

Concern has been expressed about how some local authorities have been buying (procuring) care and support services from voluntary and private sector providers. Service users and carers have said that they have not been happy about the amount of information they have received and how their views have been taken into account. The Scottish Government decided that it would be helpful to address some of the issues by preparing Guidance which details each step of the social care procurement process. This can be referred to by service users and carers, local authorities and service providers.