Scottish government proposals to expand the scope of a new National Care Service could help to end a “profoundly unhelpful” division between adult and children’s services, a researcher has said.

Social care minister Kevin Stewart last week said he wanted to include all community health services in the plans.

Social work, children’s services and some criminal justice provision would also fall under the remit of the expanded National Care Service, which was set out in a consultation running until mid-October.

The government admitted in its consultation document that integrating health and social care had the “unintended consequence” of leaving care and social work in different bodies.

It argued locating social work within a National Care Service would mean assessment, funding and accountability were all in the same body.

Derek Feeley, the lead author of the independent review that called for a National Care Service, only considered adult social care.

The absence of social work in this review was criticised by the think tank Common Weal, which said this was a “blindspot”.

In a further report, the group said it made little sense for the National Care Service to be ‘disconnected’ from children’s services, which were subject to a separate review that concluded in 2020.

‘Workers should be able to work holistically with families and artificial barriers between children’s and adult services minimised,’ the report states.

‘A National Care Service with a holistic approach to supporting individuals and families throughout the life cycle could be the key to consistency, effective collaboration and centrality of the importance of thriving children in strong, well-supported families.’

The report was authored by Marion Macleod, a former social worker who has worked in children's rights across local government and the voluntary sector. She told healthandcare.scot children's services are currently “under-resourced, overloaded and, consequently, perform less effectively”.

Ms Macleod said: “A National Care Service would provide a valuable starting point for a coherent national strategy, a decisive shift to preventing problems rather than reacting to them, specified entitlements to support for children and families, and an end to the profoundly unhelpful separation of child and adult services.

“Commitment from government to invest in our public services is vital if we are to improve the life chances and outcomes of all our children, and to ensure that Scotland really does become ‘the best place in the world to grow up’.”

Read more: Care Service plans ‘attack on local democracy’; Details of National Care Service revealed; Thinktank: Feeley plans not true National Care Service

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