National Care Service: Health and Social Care Standards - Co-design Partnership Programme report

About the review of the Health and Social Care Standards

The Health and Social Care Standards were developed in 2017. They set out what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland

All services and support organisations should use the standards as a guideline for how to achieve high-quality care.

In September 2022, the Scottish Government announced an Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny, and Regulation of Social Care in Scotland (IRISR). The final report was published in September 2023, making 38 recommendations.

Recommendation 33 was “that a review of the Health and Social Care Standards takes place to ensure they are based on human rights, ethical commissioning and outcomes focussed. The standards should be the basis on which social care services are inspected, scrutinised and regulated.”

To ensure improvement is driven by a clear and consistent set of standards across the system we have begun a review of the current Health and Social Care Standards. This review will help to ensure we can deliver better outcomes for everyone who uses health, social care or social work services in Scotland.

Work to move the recommendation forward has started and we want to make sure that we are hearing from a wide range of people and organisations. The co-design sessions formed one part of a wider programme to review the standards.