As part of the Scottish Executives response to the 'Care 21 Future of Unpaid Care in Scotland' report's recommendations, a Task Group has been established to assess respite provision in Scotland and examine what steps need to be taken to improve the range, access to and quality of short break/respite opportunities.
Summary minutes and other papers related to work of the Task Group will be posted here. More detailed minutes from the meetings are available on request.
LATEST: The Scottish Government has completed its analysis of the consultation responses and is preparing to publish the Guidance in the summer of 2008. For a copy of Shared Care Scotland's response to the consultation, please click here (Word doc). A report from the guidance consultation event co hosted by Shared Care Scotland and COCIS can be downloaded here (PDF doc).Background Papers:
Consultation on the Respite Care Guidance: October 2007- January 2008
The Draft Respite Care Guidance is now out for consultation. To download a copy please click here.
Shared Care Scotland and the Coalition of Carers in Scotland are holding a consultation event on the guidance on the 28th November 2007, in Glasgow from 11.00am to 3.00pm. This event is aimed at carers, service users and advocacy/support workers.
Scottish Executive response to Care 21 Recommendation 20 on the need to improve short break and respite support
"The Executive accepts the need for a strategic approach to respite provision for carers. We have provided significant additional resources for respite in recent years and are focusing performance management on this area through Local Improvement Targets.
We will move quickly to establish a task group to assess respite provision in Scotland; update national strategic guidance for respite services and help develop local service redesign to shift the focus of local provision to preventative, personalised respite care. Whilst the work will reflect the interests of cared for people, its primary focus will be on breaks from caring for the benefit of adult carers. Work on service re-design and establishing better local and national information on respite services will require a significant input from both carers and users. (Separate strategic work on young carers will address respite for this group.)
The group's work will include an assessment of information on existing models of respite provision and need, to inform consideration of the recommendation for additional provision in the spending review.
Shifts towards early intervention and preventative, personalised care are important aspects of Changing Lives and the forthcoming Changing Lives implementation plan will flag up the importance of respite to those agendas. We will also ask the group to assist in informing the development of service redesign approaches and projects to help shift the focus of local provision to personalised, preventative respite care.
The group will review existing respite guidance and update it where necessary to set out what should be covered in local service planning and to underpin Local Improvement Targets for respite services.
In relation to the report's recommendation for a statutory minimum entitlement to respite, we are concerned that this could cut across existing local authority responsibilities for providing care and support in the light of assessment of needs and a prioritisation of available resources. If, after conclusion of the work outlined above, it appears that a statutory entitlement to respite might have a useful role to play, we will reconsider the issue."
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