Scottish Care has published a new paper to support discussion about the future of social care reform in Scotland.
Care Creates: A Framework for the Reform of Social Care in Scotland starts from the principle that social care is essential to Scotland’s wellbeing, economy and future, enabling people to exercise choice, maintain relationships, participate in their communities and live the lives they choose.
The paper considers two connected questions:
What must improve under any model?
Including funding transparency, workforce planning, commissioning, unmet need and people’s influence over decisions.
Where should responsibility sit?
Considering the institutional arrangements most likely to sustain those improvements.
As part of the discussion, the collection explores three possible approaches to reform: A Scottish Local Care Compact; One System, Shared Responsibility; and A National Care Trust for Scotland. It also draws on learning from Ireland to test some of the assumptions behind the different approaches.
These models are not Scottish Care recommendations or endorsed plans. Instead, they are intended to encourage informed discussion and enable different proposals for reform to be considered against a common framework.
The paper sets out shared principles and tests that can be used to consider any approach to reform, from rights, workforce and provider sustainability to funding, prevention, local responsiveness, accountability and the role of data and technology.
Ultimately, the question is not simply what structure social care should have, but whether reform enables social care to create more possibility, independence, connection and participation for people and communities across Scotland.
