A UK-wide National Care Service must learn lessons from Scotland
Andy Burnham’s key announcement at the Labour Conference in Liverpool last weekend was that plans for an ‘NHS-style’ UK National Care Service are still underway, with Baroness Casey’s Commission tasked with crafting recommendations for care reform for the Prime Minister.
As reported by the BBC (opens new window), the Prime Minister is keen to get cross-party consensus on the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS). However, are there lessons that can be learnt from Scotland?
From a Scottish perspective, it is worth looking at Common Weal’s blueprint for a Scottish NCS. ‘Caring For All: A National Care Service For Scotland’ sets out over thirty key points to realise a care ambition for Scotland under a broad range of themes, such as
- Community assets - Care centres linked to Local Care Hubs
- Housing quality - Purpose built housing-based services
- Housing provision - Housing based services in the community
- Coproduced solutions - Community-driven support services.
Critically from a housing and care market perspective, it states 'we need to change our housing and our housing systems so they support care'. And later, it refers to making the business case that 'with proper investment in housing and community services, it is not unreasonable over time to plan for the care home sector for older people in Scotland to reduce from around 32,000 to 16,000 places'.
If you found this of interest, check out the new Housing LIN Viewpoint by ADASS President, Phil Holmes, published to coincide with the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.