National Care Service Charter of Rights: Island Communities impact assessment

Step One – Policy aims and objectives

The National Care Service (NCS) Charter of Rights (‘the Charter’) aims to improve information about, and awareness of, people’s rights when accessing social care, social work and community health support. The Charter was developed in response to the Independent Review of Adult Social Care which recommended that people should better understand their rights to social care and supports.

The Charter sets out people’s care-specific rights and what people should expect when they access social care, social work and community health support. It also provides clear information about how to make a complaint if these rights are not met and about support services which can help people to claim their rights.

The rights set out in the Charter already exist in law, the Charter does not create any new rights or alter any existing ones. As such the Charter does not introduce new duties or obligations for island communities.

The Charter is for anyone accessing or waiting to access social work, social care or community health services, including unpaid carers. The rights and expectations within the Charter are general and apply across all geographical communities in Scotland.

The Charter aims to be a valuable tool that contributes towards improving delivery of rights-based care in Scotland. Intended impacts include:

• people know and understand their care-specific rights
• people who face the most barriers to realising their rights feel more empowered and able to claim their rights
• social care and health are delivered in a way that contributes towards a rights-respecting culture in Scotland

These impacts do not differ across the islands, however this assessment will consider whether additional steps may be necessary to make sure the Charter is accessible to island communities. This assessment will also consider the significance of additional barriers to accessing services which may be faced by island communities, and whether these have any impact for implementation of the Charter.