The recent Programme for Government established that health and social care reform, focused on prevention and early intervention is a primary focus for the Scottish Government. We welcome that focus. As conversations on social care reform take place over the following three months, we urge the Scottish Government to prioritise the meaningful involvement of people with direct experience of the system and the providers who support them.
We believe that system changes must centre on what matters to people and their families. People’s lives are dynamic and community networks of support really matter.
If change is led only by powerful bodies such as the Scottish Government, the NHS and COSLA, then we will not see the improvements people need now or into the future.
Indeed, an NHS-led social care system, as indicated by the First Minister, risks further shifting the balance of resources and priority to the NHS and could lead to an unhelpful clinical model of care.
We know that if change is done well, with a system that builds in capacity and recognises and rewards expertise, social care can reduce the likelihood of people becoming patients in the first place.
Yet Carr Gomm also has evidence of what needs to change to improve people’s lives, not just to improve patient flow through hospital.
Because while people may be patients for some of the time, they are people all of the time, and social care has the key role in supporting people to lead good lives, regardless of whether they are in contact with an NHS service. A clinical view of social care risks funnelling people through a system which prioritises waiting times, ‘flow’ and delayed discharge, rather than focussing on people’s whole lives and what really matters to them.
Any new structure should be mindful of this.
We are really disappointed by the Scottish Government’s continued commitment to only paying frontline workers the Real Living Wage. This does not reflect their skilled and qualified work. It is also unfair. Staff employed in local authorities and the NHS are paid materially more and have better terms and conditions than those doing equal work in the third sector. We will continue to call on the Government to address this inequality and commit to ensuring that there is parity of pay and proper recognition for everyone working in social care. We hope that their commitment to sectoral bargaining will further this aim.
Carr Gomm will continue to work with the Scottish Government and parliamentarians to ensure that everyone who needs it has the right to good quality person-centred social care support.