A National Care Service

RCN Scotland hosted a series of consultation events in early September to inform our response. Members came together from across the RCN Scotland membership, - including members working in acute services, social care, community services, scrutiny, and education.

Feedback from these events, alongside data gathered using the Sensemaker tool and input from the RCN Scotland Board formed the basis of our consultation response, which focuses on communicating our members’ priorities to the Scottish Government:

• Nurses working in proposed services need proper clinical and professional governance
• The nursing contribution to social care must be recognised
• The impact of the proposals on community nursing must be properly considered and adequately resourced 
• More detailed consideration is required about mental health models, pathways and services
• The interface between the NHS and the National Care Service will be crucial and must be properly addressed
• Nurses working in the independent sector must have pay, terms and conditions at least equivalent to their counterparts in the NHS
• The RCN expects that we and our members will be meaningfully engaged with the strategy and detail of any reform process.

The consultation will inform the drafting of a Bill to bring in a National Care Service. The Bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament in the summer of 2022 and the National Care Service is expected to be fully functioning by the end of the Parliamentary term in 2026.

Although the official consultation is complete, RCN Scotland continues to prioritise and influence the shaping of a National Care Service.

To register interest in future consultation events, keep up to date with our work in this area and make your voice heard, e-mail policyscotland@rcn.org.uk

You can also make your voice heard anonymously by sharing your story on Sensemaker, tell us how work or study was for you yesterday or last week. We want to hear how you felt and what your experience meant to you both personally and professionally. We use these themes to inform our work and to influence decision makers on your behalf.

The need for significant reform to the way in which adult social care is provided has been a topic of discussion for a number of years. The COVID-19 pandemic brought these issues in to sharp focus. In May 2019, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care announced an independent review to look at the long term future of adult social care in Scotland, including consideration of the creation of a national care service – the Feeley review.

RCN Scotland engaged with this review in 2020 by meeting the review group in November, and in December provided written evidence to the review.

Our submission focused on the following issues:

• Commissioning needs to move away from a system focused on cost, to a system focused on outcomes
• As the acuity of social care recipients is on the rise, registered nurses are increasingly vital to services
• Whatever funding model and model of delivery of care is established needs to ensure staffing is safe, effective and able to provide high quality care
• Nursing staff should receive the same pay, terms and conditions as their NHS counterparts.