Council highlights online engagement event for National Care Service

Orkney Islands Council is reminding the public that the Scottish Government is hosting an engagement events to enable people in Orkney to share their views on the National Care Service.

There will be an online engagement event on Friday 8 October 9:00 – 11:00, focused on social care in Orkney.

The Scottish Government says this session will cover all aspects of the consultation, offering people the opportunity to come together to discuss the National Care Service, and to ‘understand the need for change within social care’. A summary report will be produced from each event for the Scottish Government to consider alongside the official consultation responses.

At a Special General Meeting on 15 September, the Council agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care seeking confirmation that a full island communities impact assessment will be undertaken with regards to National Care Service proposals.

The move came after the Council’s Leader, James Stockan, and Chair of Orkney Health and Care and the Integration Joint Board, Rachel King, lodged a ‘Notice Of Motion’ calling for the Council to write to the Scottish Government minister ‘as a matter of priority’.

Speaking after the meeting, Leader James Stockan said: “We are looking to try and use the Act which was hard fought and won by island communities, through the Our Islands Our Future campaign, and bring it to bear on what must be the single most important issue – the wellbeing of our communities.

“Every service we provide as a Council links up to the health and wellbeing of our residents.

“So much work has gone into things like the Integrated Joint Board and Orkney Health and Care and I think we have shown – with new enhanced builds and facilities – that we can actually do better for Orkney if we are given the power and responsibility for our own community’s wellbeing.

“If local decision making gets disjointed, our ability to coordinate these services is also diminished.”

Councillor Rachel King added: “This is the most significant proposed legislative change in our generation – I would urge as many people as possible to engage in the Scottish Government’s current consultation.”

The Scottish Government plans to begin legislating for a National Care Service by Autumn 2021 and is currently consulting the public for their views.

Their consultation follows on from the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, which was commissioned to recommend improvements to adult social care in Scotland, primarily in terms of the outcomes achieved by and with people who use services, their carers and families, and the experience of people who work in adult social care.

Significantly, the Scottish Government’s consultation has extended the scope of the Review to other service areas including children and families, community justice, alcohol and drug services and social work. Should responsibilities for these services be removed from local government, it would represent the most significant change to local government since local government reorganisation in 1996.

Under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, an Islands Communities Impact Assessment is required before legislation which has the potential to affect island communities is drafted – with Scottish Ministers also bound to publish their reasons if a request for an assessment is declined.

The online engagement event on Friday is capped at 30 spaces and will be on a first come first served basis. To register, please email NCSconsultation@gov.scot

The Scottish Government consultation ‘A National Care Service for Scotland’ is available on the Scottish Government website (www.gov.scot).