The introduction of a National Care Service must be accompanied by a total paradigm shift from the current “doing to model” to a “doing with model” if people receiving and giving care are to see any benefit from the upheaval, according to several Scottish third sector leaders.    

Speaking at an event on the implications of the Feeley independent review of adult social care, Michelle Carruthers from Food Train Scotland, said she believes it is time to “put the social back into social care” – and key to this, she says, will be a reassessment of the legislation underpinning what social care actually is.

The Food Train Scotland CEO told attendees:

“The report and review fell short in one significant area and that was the opportunity to review the legislation that underpins what social care is for those at the sharp end; namely, the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 that introduced free personal and nursing care.

“This act sets out the list of personal care acts that [people] may not be charged for.

“So it defines what people actually receive as social care, it’s the starting point.

“It’s about bathing, washing, dressing, feeding, continence, medication, getting in and out of bed and so on - it’s a medical model, based around daily living tasks.

“Care is packaged around these tasks, based on assessments and eligibility criteria.”

“It is time to be asking people what matters to them and what care and support they want, which is a complete 180 to the principles that underpin this legislation.”

The event explored whether the Feeley Review can help lead Scotland to a caring economy – where people act together to improve wellbeing rather than to maximise economic growth.

For the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, this shift to a caring economy is a key feminist issue.

Representing the group at the event co-hosted by the Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector, board member Rachel Statham said care is social infrastructure: without it, the rest of our economy cannot function, as people - especially women who make up the majority of both paid and unpaid carers - cannot fully participate.

While Ms Statham, a Senior Research Fellow, welcomed the government’s recent commitment to collective bargaining of care staff, she says closing the gap between government rhetoric and reality – “fixing processes in existing service delivery, rather than giving something a new shiny name or coming up with a new shiny idea” – with action on the ground now crucial.

Ms Statham also emphasised that “big question marks” remain over whether more funding than what has already been promised will be needed to ensure care is considered as social infrastructure, rather than its current undervalued position.

Dr Angela O'Hagan of WISE and Glasgow Caledonian University, who chaired the discussion, sees the care reset as a “political and economic imperative”.

She told the meeting:

“I am very concerned about where there is strong rhetoric in the current discussion about reform, but the paradigm still has to shift to make the giving and receiving of care a core political value.”

Highlighting the government’s commitment in the Gender Pay Gap Plan back in 2018 to view social care as key economic infrastructure, Dr O’Hagan warned “bold intentions and commitments appear and then evaporate”, and repeated calls for a move to a care economy now.

Read more: FM signals national pay bargaining in NCS; Social care “crucial pillar” of green recovery ; One-third of older people feel they are a burden;

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