Chamber and committees

Kira McDiarmid said that stigma is still a huge problem when people with mental health issues try to access services, and gave a stark statistic. Do you think that the national care service bill gives an opportunity to look at stigma and really to get into that?

Some of the answers that have been provided so far have been quite useful in relation to the next set of questions.

How can we make sure that everyone, including those with, for example, communication difficulties or reduced agency, has a say in the co-design process? How do we ensure that everyone has the opportunity to shape the bill? I put that to Mark Hazelwood, but if anyone else would like to come in, that would be great.

Cathie Russell has said that everything that we are talking about must improve people’s lives for the better. Anne’s law is about ensuring that those in residential care have the same rights as people at home. How can we encompass that in the bill? How can we do that well? What would that look like?

I am keen that we move forward with a co-design process in which everyone feels included and feels that they have a say, but we have caught the general drift that you do not really know what that process looks like just now. Given that, how can we ensure that we include and are listening to rural and remote areas? Mhairi Wylie talked earlier about the challenges with such a huge area; what does good co-design look like for you?

I would like to go back to the point that Dr Gould made at the beginning of the meeting about the issues that disabled people and those in remote and rural areas experience. How can we make the co-design process more inclusive, to ensure that the issues of the past are not carried forward into the running of the national care service?

Good morning, panel, and thanks for all your submissions. I would like to dig more into how you all got on during the pandemic. We have heard some good evidence about how people worked and collaborated. Margaret McCarthy, you said that you really had to think outside the box. Can you tell us about what happened during the pandemic and how we can harness that work to take it forward into the national care service?

Emma has helpfully covered mine.

To go back to what Paula Fraser said about co-design, we know that people want a shared record, in whatever form that takes. The Scottish Government consultation showed that 86 per cent of people wanted that and they wanted it to be shared across platforms. However, Paula also said that people were anxious about what co-design would look like—what it would mean and whether they would have enough time. Would it be helpful to have further guidance from the Scottish Government about what it would look like, in order to offer reassurance that there will be time to have those important conversations about control of data, mental health issues and what might be shared and in what circumstances?

I have rolled my questions into one large question because I knew that we were struggling for time. In evidence, we have heard that 72 per cent of respondents to the national care service consultation agreed that ministers should be accountable for the delivery of social care. Do you agree with that approach? What benefits do you foresee it bringing? Are there any risks that you would like to tell us about? I will go to Suzanne McGuinness first, and then anyone else who would like to come in.

Good morning. The policy memorandum states that a national social work agency would be expected to provide

“national leadership, oversight, investment and support”

to the profession.

What functions should the agency perform that are not covered by other bodies or agencies? That question goes first to Alison Bavidge.