Independent Review of Adult Care in Scotland

1 Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland 1. Foreword I am grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport for the opportunity to chair this Independent Review of Adult social care support in Scotland . I also want to thank the panel of I want to be absolutely clear from advisers who guided this work so expertly, our excellent team in the Scottish Government, and the outset that there is much about most of all the many people, carers and staff who have contributed their experience and insight so generously in the most difficult of times. Adult social care support in Scotland that is ground-breaking and worthy A good deal of public attention to social care support has been recently focused on care homes. We make a number of recommendations specific to the care home sector and, at the same time, of celebration.

2 The introduction of it is important to recognise that most social care support is delivered in local communities and in self-directed support, the integration people's homes. We want that pattern to continue, and wherever possible, to intensify. The Covid-19. pandemic has tended to focus attention still further on a small part of the system. Of course, there of health and social care, and the is learning to be had from people's experience during the last year. However, the vast majority of promise of the Carers Act form the the challenges we are addressing in this Review pre-dated Covid-19 and will outlive the pandemic unless we tackle them now. And we know that social care support touches upon the lives of a scaffolding upon which to build.

3 Very wide range of people and settings, so we have taken as inclusive an approach as we can to understanding both the diversity and similarity of their experiences. The core remit of the Review was to recommend improvements to Adult social care in Scotland . The more work we did, the more it seemed like that was the right framing for the Review . While we have not undertaken a Review of social work, we have considered the key role of social workers, particularly in relation to assessment. I want to be absolutely clear from the outset that there is much about Adult social care support in Scotland that is ground-breaking and worthy of celebration. The introduction of self-directed support, the integration of health and social care, and the promise of the Carers Act form the scaffolding upon which to build.

4 When we add to those foundations the commitment and compassion we saw in the workforce, the immense contribution of unpaid carers and the will to improve that we saw across the sector, many of the ingredients for improvement are in place. And of course Adult social care support does not stand alone: it has deep, historical and important links to social work, with children's services and the wider public sector. And yet, the story of Adult social care support in Scotland is one of unrealised potential. There is a gap, sometimes a chasm, between the intent of that ground-breaking legislation and the lived experience of people who need support. In the improvement world, there is a maxim which reads something like every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

5 That is the basic challenge for us. We have inherited a system that gets unwarranted local variation, crisis intervention, a focus on inputs, a reliance on the market, and an undervalued workforce. If we want a different set of results, we need a different system. Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland 2. Foreword We also need to have an eye to the future. For example, the projected increase in the number of people living with dementia means that we need to start planning now for a future in which people can live well, in their homes wherever possible. The answer to tomorrow's challenges in social care support is not more of the same. In the chapters that follow, we set out our vision for that new system. We describe how a National Care Service can drive consistent, high quality social care support in partnership with people who have a right to receive that support, unpaid carers and the workforce.

6 We also look carefully at funding and make some recommendations about investing in social care support and ending all non-residential charging for services. To achieve that new system, we need the structural change and the new accountabilities that a National Care Service will bring and we need more. We need a new narrative for Adult social care support that replaces crisis with prevention and wellbeing, burden with investment, competition with collaboration and variation with fairness and equity. We need a culture shift that values human rights, lived experience, co production, mutuality and the common good. In her Programme for Government speech that launched this Review , the First Minister said this is a time to be bold . The good news is that everyone we spoke to agrees with her.

7 What follows is a plan for how. It will take time. It has taken over 50 years for our current system to form. It will take investment. It will take partnership. But we have an opportunity to create a system of social care support where everyone in Scotland has the opportunity to flourish. If not now, when? Derek Feeley February 2021. Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland 3. Contents Executive Summary 4. Chapter 1 6. What we heard 7. Chapter 2 17. The purpose of social care 18. Chapter 3 24. A human rights based approach 25. Chapter 4 31. Unpaid Carers 32. Chapter 5 37. The case for a National Care Service (NCS) 38. Chapter 6 46. A National Care Service for Scotland how it should work 47. Chapter 7 54. A new approach to improving outcomes closing the implementation gap, a new system for managing quality 55.

8 Chapter 8 62. Models of care 63. Chapter 9 70. Commissioning for public good 71. Chapter 10 79. Fair Work 80. Chapter 11 86. Finance 87. Chapter 12 98. Summary and recommendations 99. Addendum 106. Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland 4. Executive summary At the centre of the remit for this Review was a request to recommend improvements to Adult social care support in Scotland , primarily in terms of the outcomes achieved by and with people who use services. Having listened carefully, over the last several months, to the voices and the stories of many people with lived experience of social care support, unpaid carers and staff working in the sector we believe that there are three things we must change in order to secure better outcomes.

9 These can be summarised as follows: 1. Shift the paradigm 2. Strengthen the foundations 3. Redesign the system Shifting the paradigm We need to start by challenging some of the prevailing narrative about social care support. It has its fair share of challenges, as this report will recognise and tackle, but it need not be unsustainable, or in crisis, or confined to the margins of society. Strong and effective social care support is foundational to the flourishing of everyone in Scotland . It is a good investment in our economy and in our citizens. In order to maximise the potential of social care support we have to change our perspective of what is social care support. We need to shift the paradigm of social care support to one underpinned by a human rights based approach.

10 The table below summarises the changes required which are explored in greater detail throughout our report: Old Thinking New Thinking Social care support is a burden on society Social care support is an investment Managing need Enabling rights and capabilities Available in a crisis Preventative and anticipatory Competition and markets Collaboration Transactions Relationships A place for services ( a care home) A vehicle for supporting Independent living Variable Consistent and fair Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland 5. Executive summary Strengthening the foundations As we will rehearse in various sections of this report, there are many strengths in the Scottish system of social care support. We need to build on those foundations .