Evidence presented to the Scottish parliament’s health committee suggests there are significant differences between what people expect social care to deliver and what providers are able to do with the resources they are given.

Today we run the first of a series of four reports based on conversations with independent and third sector care providers across Scotland, held a few weeks before the coronavirus pandemic.

The report highlights that people generally, far from planning their future care, are most likely to seek help at the time of crisis. Care home managers report the majority of admissions are for respite or are arranged in an emergency.

Few people plan their care and those who do, if reliant on funding from the local health and social care partnership rather than self-funding, may not have the breadth of choice they would expect.

Independent providers speak of the difficult position they are left in because they are not paid enough to meet the expectations of vulnerable people and their families.

healthandcare.scot invited Scottish Care to bring together members to discuss the key questions being asked by the Holyrood committee during the consultation phase of its inquiry into social care in Scotland. The committee was due to begin taking evidence from panels of witnesses next month, but given the current pandemic this will undoubtedly be pushed back to later in the year.

More than 20 providers who spoke to us at meetings in the Highlands, Fife, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, did so on the basis of anonymity as there were some concerns that there might be repercussions if they were seen to be too critical of partnerships, which have the power to award and withdraw contracts and funding.

From those conversations we are writing four reports and have submitted an evidence paper to the health and sport committee.

Today we report on the expectations gap. In coming weeks, we will share what we were told about commissioning and procurement practices; integration of health and social care from the perspective of social care providers; and tackle the issue of sustaining a workforce that will be able to cope with increasing demand.

Throughout, we have sought to adopt the same approach as the committee: imagining what a good model of social care delivery in the future might look like and examining the route that Scotland might take get there.

 

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