National Care Service: factsheet

Improvements we will make next

Regulation of services

In line with our commitment to improve regulation of services, we will:

• review the current health and social care standards
• improve access to information for those seeking social care

Improvement approach

We will co-develop and implement a framework which builds learning, improvement and quality management into the system.

Complaints update

We have worked closely with people who access and deliver support, and stakeholders, on improving complaints and redress . Based on this work, we will set out and deliver an updated programme to improve complaints processes.

Charter of Rights

We will continue to develop and publish our co-designed Charter of Rights. It will set out people’s rights when accessing support and provide a clear pathway to make a complaint if their rights are not upheld. The Charter will support people to better hold the system to account and receive the services they need to thrive.

Workforce charter

We will continue to take a co-design approach to developing an NCS workforce charter. It will aim to bring together social care, social work and community health as a more integrated workforce. We must help this workforce to feel engaged, supported and valued for the important work they do under the NCS.

Establishing a national partnership approach to social work

We need future-proof reform to support the whole social work profession. We are working to put the role of a National Chief Social Work Adviser into law. The National Chief Social Work Adviser will bring strategic leadership at a national level.

We also want to establish a supporting National Social Work Agency (NSWA) by 2026.

The NSWA will be an executive agency of the Scottish Government and will be accountable to Scottish Ministers. It will:

• aim to ensure Scotland has a sustainable social work workforce
• drive improvement in social work education and professional development
• make sure there is good workforce planning at a national level
• provide training and support for putting national policy in place locally

Ethical commissioning

We have several working groups looking at current practice and barriers to delivery of good practice, both in commissioning and procurement.

As the Feeley Review recommended, through the NCS we will embed ethical commissioning and procurement throughout Scotland. This includes publishing principles of ethical commissioning and procurement and developing guidance and tools to support them. These will be set at a national level, to be delivered locally.