The National Care Service Bill briefing

The National Care Service Bill provides a framework and details the powers needed to legislate for a National Care Service.

The Bill, if successful, will give Scottish Ministers powers to:

• Organise the National Care Service and potentially bring in other services, such as children’s and justice social services, in the future
• Create new institutions called ‘local care boards’ and ‘special care boards’
  • Local care boards will serve particular geographical areas. Specialist care boards will provide specialist services across the country
• Establish a complaints service and provide advocacy in connection with the National Care Service
• Oversee, monitor and intervene in services provided by care boards
  • E.g. Scottish Ministers can remove care boards if they fail to carry out their function or transfer duties of care boards to the Scottish Government in an emergency
• Make Health and Social Care records more consistent and better integrated

And commits to:

• Produce a National Care Service Charter of Rights and Responsibilities which must be reviewed every 5 years and make publicly available
• Rights to breaks for Carers – making sure carers get the support they need to take sufficient breaks
• Giving rights to people living in adult care homes to see the people important to them (known as ‘Anne’s Law)

The process for a Bill to become Law can be a long one and normally follows the stages as set out below: