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REGULATION OF HEALTH CARE SUPPORT STAFF AND SOCIAL CARE SUPPORT STAFF IN SCOTLAND

Malcolm Chisholm	Peter Peacock

Foreword

Like the UK Government, the Scottish Executive is committed to increasing public protection and improving quality standards in health and social care services.

Increasingly, a wider range of health and social care support staff are involved in treating and caring for patients and service users, taking on roles that were traditionally the responsibility of professional staff. We need to make sure that staff are able to provide patients and social care service users with the confidence that they are receiving care from staff with appropriate skills. It is therefore important that arrangements are in place that require health and social care support staff to meet standards of practice and conduct. In addition, guidance and training to support individuals who do not meet the standards should also be available.

We also need to reassure professional staff that anyone whose work directly impacts on patients and service users are subject to proper regulatory arrangements.

This consultation document sets out proposals for extending regulation to those health and social care support staff who make a valuable contribution to health and social care services but also have the potential to compromise public safety if their work or behaviour falls short of acceptable standards.

We believe that these proposals will improve the quality of care and will help to reassure patients and service users about the skills and competence of staff who care for them.

We would welcome your comments on the proposals outlined in this document.

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