Today, Tuesday 13 July we are pleased to launch the ‘Time for Change: Conceptualising a National Care Framework‘ report, a follow-up to the release of ‘Coileanadh‘.

In June 2020, Scottish Care began the Collective Care Future programme, which involved a series of engagements with a diverse range of people with experience and expertise in the social care sector in Scotland. From these contributions, we launched ‘Coileanadh’ – a future landscape for social care that articulated eight concepts and 39 actions for change, underpinned by three priority areas of focus relating to the ways in which practice-based change can be achieved, implemented and sustained to achieve a positive vision for the future of social care. 

The findings from ‘Coileanadh’ were compared against the recommendations of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care to explore the synergies and areas of opportunity that can help to overcome the implementation gap that currently exists in adult social care and articulate the key requirements in conceptualising ‘National Care Service,’ summarised in the ‘Time for Change’ report. In doing so, we aim to offer a more holistic perspective on what such a service might look like and the resulting implications for how work in this context could be taken forward.

The actions identified are both complementary and distinct to the recommendations of the Independent Review. The report aims to demonstrate the authentic value of the social care sector to wider society and the relational interdependence that social care has with health. A broader view of social care that considers and encompasses key concepts around positive ageing, a life course approach, and the language we use when talking about social care is critical in supporting mindset shifts and realistic perceptions. We propose that within these first 100 days of new parliament, the actions articulated in ‘Coilanadh’ are adopted as complementary to the recommendations of the Independent Review, and that our work is included as part of the consultation process that the Government will carry out. It is our hope that this work is the start of a national conversation on the future of adult social care in Scotland.