Care Home Services (Visits to and by Care Home Residents) (Scotland) Regulations 2026: final Island communities impact assessment
An Island communities impact assessment undertaken to consider and assess whether the impact of the Care Services (Visits to and by Care Home Residents) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 is significantly different to the impact on other communities.
Assessment of impacts particular to island communities
8. Essential Care Supporters are typically expected to be individuals with the closest relationship to the resident (e.g. spouse, child). In some island communities there is limited choice of care home which may mean people are placed outwith their communities and further away from their families, which can present challenges in travelling there.
9. In response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on Anne’s Law in 2021, Shetland Islands Council noted that one designated visitor may be insufficient, particularly in cases where the Essential Care Supporter is a spouse who may also be living with dementia. In such cases, the quality of the visit could be compromised. Furthermore, having a single designated visitor could place excessive burden on one person. This concern may be especially relevant in island care homes where an Essential Care Supporter may have to travel by ferry to reach the care home.
10. The regulations mitigate this by providing for “at least one Essential Care Supporter” for every resident. Care homes located on islands and in rural areas will be able to help residents identify more than one Essential Care Supporter to ease the burden on one individual.
11. In response to the consultation on the Care Home Services (Visits to and by care home residents) Regulations in September - October 2025, respondents expressed concern about insufficient communication, specifically families not being promptly informed about visiting suspensions and reinstatements. This may be a particular concern for families on islands where longer travel times may make timely and accurate information even more critical.
12. A proposed mitigation to this is to require care homes to adhere to a clear notification timeframe and communication channels for informing relatives and Essential Care Supporters. This should be clarified in the Code of Practice. The option to designate more than one Essential Care Supporter should also be actively considered.
13. The administrative and management impacts on care home providers and staff were also highlighted in the consultation responses. Recruitment and retention difficulties are well documented in the social care sector. The 2023 Workforce Data Report published by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) confirms that staffing pressures are widespread, with difficulties in maintaining workforce levels in care homes for adults. While there is no published evidence that island care homes are disproportionately affected compared to mainland care homes, feedback from island communities consistently indicates that recruitment for social care roles is particularly difficult in these areas.