Chamber and committees

You want that to be part of the bill or considered through the co-design process in the future. What you are describing, such as someone looking down the line to their pension, is a huge consideration for people with regard to the job that they do. We heard in the evidence that we took way back at the beginning of the process that most care staff are women who are aged between 50 and 65 and who are often carers themselves.

When we are considering the way in which contracts are created and delivered, we need to bear in mind the particular groups of individuals who provide the care. Would you want that consideration to be part of the co-design process, once the bill moves forward and we look at the devil in the detail?

I will be quick and will cite some specific information that we heard in Dumfries, which will also be directly relevant for Julie Welsh. I am using that example because Dumfries is in my patch and I was at the table when it was said. We heard that Scotland Excel can sometimes be challenging to work with and heard examples of delays in passing on uplifts in pay, which led to staff leaving, and of delays in processing variations or refusals to consider variations. I do not know the specific details, but there was a standard rate, despite local differences in costs. It would be interesting to hear from Julie Welsh about any direct experience of how Scotland Excel works with providers and about what would happen if Scotland Excel were no longer involved in commissioning arrangements for social care.

Not all training is done away from any place. As a former clinical educator, I used to go right into the intensive care unit, operating theatre or ward and do direct education. Education can be delivered on the ground in the area where care is provided as well.

Good morning. The primary legislation says:

“The Scottish Ministers may by regulations provide for a scheme that allows information to be shared in order that services can be provided”.

Working back from that, we need to ensure that all data will be secure. Ken Macdonald talked about co-design and about the ICO being part of the process of developing legislation. My understanding is that the co-design process will come from the primary legislation when we start thinking about how we will manage and secure people’s data.

My question is about data security and the public’s need to be aware and trust absolutely that their data will be managed in a way that does not reveal personal information, especially if we are using it to monitor and collect information on how the national care service is working and how records are exchanged so that people do not have to repeat their stories over and over.

What needs to happen for the public to trust, in relation to the retention of their information, that only the specifics that are required will be shared? I put that first to Paula Fraser, who is in the room, and then to Scott Heald.

This might be a question for Lynsey Cleland, too, but I want to look at the issues of quality and education that have been mentioned and which have been raised in previous evidence-taking sessions. Yesterday in Dumfries, we heard that some of our carers are doing percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy—or PEG—tube feeding. These really complex skills must be valued and, as a former nurse educator, I think that it is important that we measure and monitor such things and ensure that people are able to deliver these complex forms of care.

We also heard yesterday that older skilled and experienced care workers might retire early instead of undertaking mandatory training. Have you heard about that issue? Have you experienced it at all? Is there some plan to ensure that older experienced people who might not want to achieve the required levels can continue to work in whatever capacity, given that they already demonstrate a lot of those skills?

One of the main drivers for introducing Anne’s law was the recognition that families and friends were absolutely essential in supporting the health and wellbeing of care home residents during the Covid pandemic. Suzanne McGuinness might want to answer this question because of the health and wellbeing aspects of the introduction of Anne’s law, which is about enabling visits to residents in care homes and visits by care home residents—as well as enabling people to go into care homes, it gives residents the ability to go out. Do you think that the aspects in the bill about visits to care homes or outside visits by care home residents are adequate to meet the needs of residents and support their wellbeing?

It is interesting to talk about the release and sharing of information and the whole minutiae of regulations that allow freedom of information requests and monitoring and evaluation to be out there and shared to allow us to compare how one board is doing versus another.

We talk a lot about self-directed support, which works really well in some places but does not work well in others, so we need to be able to monitor that. Do you think that there should be something more detailed about data monitoring and evaluation of the system, such as on unmet need, in the bill?

Should Anne’s law be extended to other facilities, such as hospitals? I understand that infection control and prevention guidance is important in specific areas, especially if there are outbreaks in other places. Have you considered whether we should extend Anne’s law to hospitals?

We have talked about advocacy and complaints. Is the bill adequate to be able to deal with that kind of support if there are any issues and we need to look at who is responsible and who is accountable? One of the issues that came up during the lockdown was to do with legal liability insurance. That was a real challenge, because care homes, rather than protecting one resident, were protecting all residents. Does that need further consideration?