RCN comments on Scottish Government response to health and social care integration consultation

Published: 13 February 2013

Commenting on the Scottish Government response to the consultation on the integration of adult health and social care in Scotland, RCN Scotland Director Theresa Fyffe said:

“In his foreword, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Alex Neil MSP states that integration is about ‘putting the leadership of clinicians and care professionals at the heart of service delivery for people with health and care support needs.’ That is a very laudable aim, which we fully support. However, from the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation, we are still not fully clear how this will operate in practice. We acknowledge that there’s a broad commitment that professionals and patients will be engaged. However, we don’t see how clinicians who have a leadership role in delivering safe, high-quality care, such as senior nurses, can truly drive improvements in services and be held accountable if they don’t have a vote on the integrated committees. In addition, the professional and patient led local planning arrangements remain vague.”

“In all the legalese of the Bill and debate around structures, it must always be remembered that integration is only a means to an end – which is to improve care for the people who need it in Scotland – and we’ll continue to focus on how best to achieve this in the Bill.”

ENDS

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Notes to editors

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the world’s largest professional organisation and trade union for nursing staff, with members in the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors. RCN Scotland promotes patient and nursing interests by campaigning on issues that affect our members, shaping national health policies, representing members on practice and employment issues and providing members with learning and development opportunities.  With around 39,000 members in Scotland, we are the voice of nursing.