Meeting of the Parliament 29 February 2024
I thank everyone who has contributed to the consultation on the national care service, our co-design sessions, the annual forums and the many meetings that my officials and I have undertaken. We have heard from thousands of people and, overwhelmingly, the message is the same. We need to improve the social care and community health system across Scotland. We need long-term, widespread transformation to fix some of the ingrained issues in the system and ensure sustainability for the future.
The bill is our chance to effect the meaningful change that we all agree is needed. The national care service will provide greater transparency on the delivery of care, improve standards, support improvement in pay and conditions for workers and provide better support for unpaid carers.
I thank the seven parliamentary committees that have taken evidence and reported on the bill at stage 1. The committee scrutiny has been comprehensive and robust, and I welcome that.
I acknowledge that the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has restated its intention to consider further details of the Scottish Government’s proposed changes to the bill at stage 2. I have already provided a great deal of information at stage 1, in the interests of being transparent and helpful, and I have committed to giving the lead committee what it requires during the stage 2 process, as requested in its letter of 7 November. I repeat that commitment today. Information will be provided as soon as possible.
The starting point for this work was the independent review of adult social care that was conducted by Derek Feeley. The review, which the Government commissioned in the summer of 2020, has been the guiding force behind the bill. It recommended reforming social care in Scotland and strengthening national accountability for social care support, and it outlined the limitations of our current delivery structures. Those limitations included a postcode lottery in relation to user experience, a lack of national oversight and co-ordination, and a lack of collaborative and strategic leadership. The review also said that we should take a human rights-based approach to social care. All of that has been confirmed through our engagement and our co-design work. We have heard repeatedly that the current social care and community healthcare system must change to drive up standards to a consistent level across the country.
Many campaigners have been waiting a long time for this, but some do not have a long time. I know from listening to them that the status quo is not an option and that we cannot delay change. I was very moved when I met an advocate for those with motor neurone disease recently. He told his story powerfully. He might have only a few months to live—too few to be spending time as a delayed discharge in an intensive care unit when he could be at home with his family. As a country, we should be good enough at planning, managing and delivering social care so that people such as him get exactly what they need when and where they need it.
Feeley highlighted a need to reconsider the way that we think about social care. Globally, social care support is seen as a burden or a drain on society. In a country with an ageing population and unprecedented pressure on our national health service, we cannot afford to view social care as a burden. It is an investment in our society. Good social care, wherever people live in Scotland and whatever their needs are, enables and empowers them to live independent lives.