>At the heart of the revamp of social care services was meant to be a National Care Service – but this was dropped by SNP ministers following widespread opposition to how the shake-up would have worked in practice.
>However, the planned law to enable this flagship change has lived on and will now deliver changes to social care procurement, family care home visits and a new right to breaks for unpaid carers.
>When it became clear the National Care Service was not going ahead, the Scottish government was left with a Bill it was trying to get passed that was carrying the same name as its defunct policy. This was solved by renaming it the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill and now the planned law focuses on a series of important, but less high-profile, changes to health and social care across the country.
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>One of the big changes planned under the new law is a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers. This mean councils will have a duty to decide whether a carer is able to take sufficient breaks from their caring role.
>If they are not, then the local authority will provide support to enable this, such as providing funding for short respite breaks. This policy, given Scotland has around 700,000 unpaid carers, will cost between £196m and £315m by 2035/36, according to the Bill’s financial memorandum. However, it remains a fraction of the £13.9bn that unpaid care is currently saving Scotland every year.
>Improvements to the way information is shared in health and social care – to make it less likely that people will have to repeat their information – as well changes to procurement rules in the sector are also planned.
>Beefing up the powers that watchdogs can take against failing care providers is also part of the bill.
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>At the heart of the revamp of social care services was meant to be a National Care Service – but this was dropped by SNP ministers following widespread opposition to how the shake-up would have worked in practice.
>However, the planned law to enable this flagship change has lived on and will now deliver changes to social care procurement, family care home visits and a new right to breaks for unpaid carers.
>When it became clear the National Care Service was not going ahead, the Scottish government was left with a Bill it was trying to get passed that was carrying the same name as its defunct policy. This was solved by renaming it the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill and now the planned law focuses on a series of important, but less high-profile, changes to health and social care across the country.
…
>One of the big changes planned under the new law is a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers. This mean councils will have a duty to decide whether a carer is able to take sufficient breaks from their caring role.
>If they are not, then the local authority will provide support to enable this, such as providing funding for short respite breaks. This policy, given Scotland has around 700,000 unpaid carers, will cost between £196m and £315m by 2035/36, according to the Bill’s financial memorandum. However, it remains a fraction of the £13.9bn that unpaid care is currently saving Scotland every year.
>Improvements to the way information is shared in health and social care – to make it less likely that people will have to repeat their information – as well changes to procurement rules in the sector are also planned.
>Beefing up the powers that watchdogs can take against failing care providers is also part of the bill.
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