National Care Service Charter of Rights

Involvement, participation and choice

British Sign Language (BSL) translation

Your rights

You have rights to:

• be given information about the support that is available to help you make decisions
• be listened to and have your views respected and responded to 
• be as involved as possible in planning and decisions about your support and how it is delivered
• involve a member of your support network in your assessment and in planning your supportaccess the personal information that is held about you and to be informed about how your information will be processed

Read what the Charter means where it says ‘you have rights to’ and ‘you should expect’ in the rights and expectations in this Charter.

Information

You have rights to information about the support that is available to help you make decisions. 

The Support in the Right Direction programme provides local independent support, advice and advocacy. You can find further information at Support in the Right Direction.

If your support has to change for any reason you should expect to be given information about the change. 

You should expect people to communicate with you in a way that you can understand.

This may include getting information in:

• plain language 
• a language you can understand, including British Sign Language 
• an audio format
• large print
• braille 
• Easy Read

If you need it, you can get information through an interpreter, guide/communicator or communication support worker.

Assessing your needs and planning your support

Those involved in your care will work with you to understand your needs, strengths and how they can support you. This is called your assessment.

Your rights to accessing and using NHS services are set out in the Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities.

Local councils have a duty to assess your care and support needs and decide if they need to arrange any services for you. To request an assessment of your needs, you can contact your local council. You can find out more about what to expect from your assessment at Care Information Scotland.

You have rights to be listened to and have your views respected and responded to. You have rights to be as involved as possible in planning and decisions about your support and how it is delivered. 

There may be times when your control or choice may be restricted, for example to protect your safety or the safety of others. This must be:

• kept to a minimum 
• justified
• compliant with the law
• explained to you so that you know why the decision has been made

You have rights to involve a member of your support network in your assessment and in planning your support. With your consent, their views about the best way to support you will be considered.

Choice and control in social care – Self-directed Support

Self-directed Support (SDS) is the way social care and support is delivered in Scotland for adults, children and unpaid carers.

If you get social care support, your social worker should help you choose how much control you want over your care. You can decide to manage it yourself or let the local council do most of it.

Your local council must provide you with information about your options and how to manage your support. There are 4 ways to get support, and each offers a different level of choice and control. You can discuss and agree the option which will work best for you with your social worker.

Your social worker should also help you make a care and support plan. Together, you should agree what a ‘good life’ looks like for you, and what support you need to achieve or maintain it. Your care will then be arranged to help meet those goals.

You can find out more about Self-directed Support and what you should expect from social care in the SDS Framework of Standards.

The SDS Handbook also gives you further information on choice. It provides a step by step guide which aims to make it easier to access social care and support. 

Supported decision-making

There may be times when you need support to make a decision about your care and treatment. Decisions should be based on your:

• legal rights
• will and preference 
• needs

You should expect to get help to make decisions about the support available to you and what those decisions mean. This is called supported decision-making and can come from:

• a trusted person – this can include professionals as well as family and friends
• peer support – from friends or other individuals with similar lived experience
• independent advocacy
• community and neighbourhood support 

Here are some steps that you can follow to get support when making a decision, you:

• find someone that you want to support you and build up trust with them
• decide what support you need to make a decision – some people may need help with communication aides or technology support
• discuss what you want to happen and what the consequences might be
• review the final decision and confirm what happens next   

Substitute decision making

If an adult is incapable of making a decision about their own welfare, someone else can be given the power to make decisions on their behalf. This is substitute decision-making. Substitute decision-making for an adult should only happen where there is specific legal authority to do so. When decisions are made by a substitute, it is important to take into account an individual’s known will and preferences.

Power of attorney and guardianship

A power of attorney is a document that is drawn up when you have capacity to provide full consent. It allows another person to make decisions on your behalf when you are no longer able to do so for yourself, including about support and personal welfare. If someone has not appointed anyone as power of attorney but needs someone to make decisions for them, a guardian can be appointed by the court.  

You can find out more about power of attorney and guardianship on mygov.scot about:

• setting up power of attorney
• setting up guardianship

You can find out more about your rights under Adults with Incapacity law, Adult Support and Protection law and Mental Health law from the Mental Welfare Commission.

You can:

• visit Mental Welfare Commission
• phone 0800 389 6809

National information and advice services

Sometimes you might need help to make a choice. For support, you can speak to your local council, the NHS or access information from Care Information Scotland.

Care Information Scotland is a phone, webchat and website service providing information about care services for people living in Scotland. It has information about a range of topics and lists contact details for many services.

You can: 

• visit Care Information Scotland
• phone 0800 011 3200

Your rights over the information held about you

You have rights in relation to the personal information held about you. The rights listed below apply in social work and social care settings. Your rights related to the personal information held about you by NHS services are set out in The Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities.  

Your personal information could include your:

• name, age or other characteristic 
• address or contact information
• health conditions or test results

Your rights include the right to:

• be informed about how your data is being used
• access your personal data
• have incorrect data updated
• have data erased
• stop or restrict the processing of your data
• data portability (allowing you to get and reuse your data for different services)
• object to how your data is processed in certain circumstances

Organisations need to hold personal information about you in order to give you the best available support. Organisations will only ask you for information that they need to know and the information you give will be kept safe. You can access personal information the organisation holds about you by contacting them directly. 

Sometimes organisations may not be able to give you all of your personal information, for example to protect the privacy or safety of you or someone else. If this happens the organisation will explain this to you.

If you're concerned about how an organisation is handling your personal data, contact the Information Commissioner’s Office for advice or to make a complaint.

You can also use the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113.