Seòmar agus comataidhean

We have had some interesting evidence sessions with people who assume that the national care service will do things such as taking away local authorities’ assets. Electric vehicles, for example, were mentioned way back at the beginning of the evidence taking. It might help us if you tell us what the national care service is and is not. The issue of transfer of staff and assets that belong to local authorities, for instance, has been brought up. The point about electric cars was interesting to me because I had asked a question about it. How can we dispel some of the myths that have already been created about the national care service?

How will the Government ensure that, as part of the co-design process, national accountability allows for local implementation and flexibility? There is a big difference between developing care to be delivered in the city of Glasgow and doing it for rural Dumfries and Galloway, for instance. I assume that co-design will be on-going rather than having an end point for design of the whole service.

How will we monitor and evaluate the implementation and success—assuming that it is a success—of this framework bill?

On the subject of integrated services, you have highlighted gaps such as, for example, the lack of onward care, which leads to people being held in secure facilities instead of moving on. Do you envisage the national care service bill addressing the issues that you have highlighted in order to ensure a seamless approach? In our evidence-taking sessions, we have heard about the importance of the third and independent sectors in supporting people who have mental health needs but who do not necessarily need an acute stay in a mental health hospital. Do you think that the national care service bill should be able to support a seamless transition?

I have just one more question.

Although the framework bill is pretty short, section 38, which covers three pages, is dedicated to rights to breaks for carers. We have had feedback from various people who have raised questions about what constitutes a break, whether it is a break for everybody and whether it is a break to get out or disengage completely. I am interested in hearing views on what the bill says about breaks for carers—in particular, unpaid carers—and whether it is sufficient to achieve what is required.

Thank you. I might come back to that issue later.

What Elinor Jayne was just saying about stigma is interesting.

I have a question for Kira McDiarmid about mental health and how the bill might support a wider mental health approach. The Feeley report recommended that appropriate care be provided for people with complex issues around their care, such as those involving mental health and alcohol. Do you think the bill is sufficiently clear about how mental health services and support can be provided in the overall framework, and do you have any suggestions about what might need to be added?

I am also interested in the support for people with additional needs, such as those with learning difficulties. The bill talks about

“ensuring that individuals who have difficulty communicating (in relation to speech, language or otherwise) can receive information and express themselves in ways that best meet their individual needs”.

I circled the word “otherwise” and wrote “mental health and dementia”, because the bill might need to clarify what “otherwise” means. I am interested to hear your feedback on that. The language in this framework bill should allow us to move forward with a co-design process. Does some of the language in the bill need to be tweaked to widen out what words such as “otherwise” mean?

Thank you. I want to pick up on what Cathie said about self-directed support not really working. I am aware of some local authority areas where that works really well. Even in one particular local authority area, where it is the perception of my office staff that it is not working well, some folk do get really good self-directed support. During the summer recess, the minister, Kevin Stewart, visited Dumfries to hear directly from folk about the good and bad sides of self-directed support.

I am interested to know whether you think that the national care service will help to raise awareness of what self-directed support is and what it can achieve. There are some folk who get good packages. I think you are right that some folk have never heard of it while other folk really know how to access self-directed support.