Carers Consultation – Easy Read version

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First published by the Scottish Government, February 2014
ISBN: 9781784122508

eBook first published by the Scottish Government, February 2014
ISBN 9781784122515 (ePub)

Kindle eBook first published by the Scottish Government, February 2014
ISBN 9781784122522 (Mobi)

The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Produced for the Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland
DPPAS23743 (02/14)

Published by the Scottish Government, February 2014

Contents

What is this consultation about?
The Carer's Assessment: Carer's Support Plan
Information and Advice
Support for carers
Stages and Transitions
Carer Involvement
Planning and giving services
Telling who is a carer
When the carer and the person being cared for live in different areas
Where to send your answers

What is this consultation about?

Lots of people in Scotland are carers. They work very hard to give unpaid care to family or friends. Many more give care but do not call themselves carers.

There are more carers than ever before. Caring takes up a lot of their time and can be very difficult.

Young carers are giving care to their parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. They are proud to be carers. They give a lot to society. Being carers should not stop them from enjoying childhood and their teenage years.

The Government has been doing more to support carers over the past few years. But lots of carers have a lot of stress and worry and are still not getting enough support.

We want to change the law so that carers get more help and support.

We want to ask you some questions about new laws to help carers.

Who is this consultation for?

We would like to hear from:

- carers,

- young carers,

- people who are being cared for,

- professionals who work with carers.

You do not have to answer all of the questions. Just answer the ones you want to answer.

The Carer's Assessment: Carer's Support Plan

We want to make some changes to how we decide what carers’ support needs are.

Carers who give a lot of care can have a carer’s assessment. Carers ask the local authority to decide how much support they need to keep giving care.

Some carers don’t like the name “carer’s assessment”. We want to change the name to “Carer’s Support Plan”.

Question 1

Should we change the name from “carer’s assessment” to “Carer’s Support Plan”?

Yes
No
Comments

Some local authorities do an assessment to decide how much regular care each carer gives. Some do not. We want to change this so that all carers will be able to have a Carer’s Support Plan. It won’t matter how much regular care they give.

Question 2

Should we change the rules so that all carers can have a Carer’s Support Plan?

Yes
No
Comments

The person being cared for has to qualify for support from the local authority to get a carer’s assessment. But some people don’t need that kind of support or don’t want it.

We want to change the rules so that the person being cared for doesn’t have to qualify for local authority support.

Question 3

Should the person being cared for have to qualify for local authority support to get a carer’s assessment?

Yes
No
Comments

Carers can ask their local authority for an assessment (Carer’s Support Plan). Not all carers know that they can ask for one. We want to change the rules so that local authorities offer a Carer’s Support Plan to all carers.

Question 4

Should we change the rules so that carers can ask for a Carer’s Support Plan or be offered one by the local authority?

Yes
No
Comments

The rules say that a carer’s ability to give care is being assessed. Some carers don’t like this. They think it is saying they are not good enough at giving care.

We want to change the rules so that the Carer’s Support Plan doesn’t say anything about a carer’s “ability to give care”.

Question 5

Should we change the rules so that the Carer’s Support Plan doesn’t say anything about a carer’s ability to give care?

Yes
No
Comments

It can take a long time for carers to get a carer’s assessment. We think the people doing the assessment should tell carers how long they will have to wait. We think they should be told why if they have to wait longer.

Question 6

Should local authorities have to tell carers how long they’ll have to wait to get a Carer’s Support Plan? Should the local authority have to give reasons if carers have to wait longer?

Yes
No
Comments

Not all parts of the country have the same services. Service users might not be able to get the same support if they move to a new area. They might have to wait until a new carer’s assessment is done.

We think it should be easier for service users and carers to move to a new area. We think the Government and local authorities should work together to make this happen.

Question 7

How important do you think it is that service users and carers should get the same support if they move to a new area?

Comments

Question 8

Should the Government and local authorities work together to make this happen?

Yes
No
Comments

Information and Advice

It is very important that carers and young carers should have access to the best information and advice. This will let them make the best decisions about their support needs.

Carers tell us that things would be better for them if they got the right information at the right time.

Carers need to be given information and advice that they can understand.

Question 9

Should we make it a rule that local authorities have to have information and advice services for carers and young carers?

Yes
No
Comments

The rules say that local authorities have to show their plans for carers’ information to the Government. This won’t be needed in future because the rules will tell all local authorities what kind of information they should give to carers.

Question 10

Do you think local authorities should have to show plans to the Government?

Yes
No
Comments

Support for carers

The law doesn’t say local authorities have to support carers at the moment. After April 2014, there will be a new law called the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act. This will mean that local authorities will have to do a carer’s assessment for every carer who asks for one or who is found to be a carer. It will be up to the local authority to decide if support is needed and if it will give that support.

Question 11

Should we make a rule saying that local authorities have to give support to carers and young carers who qualify?

Yes If you said yes, please go to question 13
No If you said no, please go to question 12
Comments

Question 12

Should we keep the rules as they are now, and let local authorities decide if they will give support?

Yes
No
Comments

One of the best ways to help carers and young carers is to give them short breaks. Short breaks let carers have time out from caring so they can recharge their batteries.

Short breaks can be holidays, leisure activities or meeting up with friends. They can include the person being cared for or just the carer.

We could make it a rule that local authorities have to give short breaks to carers.

Question 13

Should we make a rule that local authorities have to give short breaks to carers?

Yes
No
Comments

Stages and Transitions

Things can change the kind of care a person needs. We call these stages. The kind of care a person needs can change. The carer might have to spend more time caring for the person. The carer might have to learn how to give new medicines or use new equipment.

Question 14

Should we change the rules so that the Carer’s Support Plan helps deal with different stages of care?

Yes
No
Comments

We call it a transition when carers or the people being cared for grow up from children to adults. The change in their needs has to be looked at carefully so they keep getting the best support.

Question 15

Should the new rules let young carers have a Carer’s Support Plan if they are going to become adult carers?

Yes
No
Comments

Carer Involvement

We think that carers should be involved in planning support for the people they care for and for themselves. This means they get better support which meets all their needs.

Carers’ organisations should be involved too when needed.

Question 16

Should carers be involved in planning support for the people they care for and support for themselves?

Yes
No
Comments

Question 17

Should carers’ organisations be involved in planning support for carers and the people they care for?

Yes
No
Comments

Carers are equal partners in care. They have experience and know things about the person they care for. Health professionals should listen to carers when planning care.

We want to change the rules so that carers have to be involved in planning care. If the person being cared for wants this.

Question 18

Should we change the rules so that carers are involved in planning care?

Yes
No
Comments

Young carers also want to be involved in planning support for the people they care for and for themselves. They say that health professionals don’t always listen to them when making decisions.

We want to change the rules so that young carers are involved in planning care. If the person being cared for wants this.

We also want to know what you think about young carers being involved in planning support for the people they care for and their own support.

Question 19

Should we change the rules so that young carers are involved in planning care?

Yes
No
Comments

Question 20

What do you think about young carers being involved in planning support for the people they care for and for themselves?

Comments

Planning and giving services

Most local authorities have plans for carers. Some are made with help from local Health Boards. Some local authorities have plans for young carers.

We think that local authorities, Health Boards, other organisations and carers should work together to make plans for carers’ support.

Question 21

Should we make a rule that all these organisations must work together with carers to make plans?

Yes
No
Comments

Should these plans be looked at and updated every three years?

Yes
No
Comments

The law doesn’t say that local authorities with Health Boards have to give carers counselling, advocacy, short breaks and other kinds of support. We think this should change.

Question 22

Should we make it a rule to have a range of services available for carers and young carers?

Yes
No
Comments

Telling who is a carer

We need to be able to tell who is a carer so they can get a carer’s assessment (Carer’s Support Plan) and support.

This is not always easy. Some people don’t think they are carers or don’t want to be called carers.

Doctors (GPs) are usually the first people to find out if a person is a carer. Doctors keep a list of carers and they use this to refer carers for support. We don’t think doctors should keep a list of carers. We think Health Boards should share ideas on how to raise awareness about carers in doctor’s surgeries.

Question 23

Should it be a rule that doctors (GPs) have to find out who is a carer and put them on a list of Carers?

Yes
No
Comments

Question 24

Should we make a rule that Health Boards share ideas on how to raise awareness about carers in doctor’s surgeries?

Yes
No
Comments

Question 25

Should the Government ask Health Boards to make sure that doctors (GPs) are keeping their list of Carers up to date?

Yes
No
Comments

When the carer and the person being cared for live in different areas

Some carers live in different areas from the people they care for. Each area might have a different local authority. The carer might ask their local authority for a carer’s assessment. But their locally authority doesn’t have to support people who live in other areas.

We think it would be better if the assessment was done by the local authority where the person being cared for lives. But different local authorities have different ideas about this.

We need to decide which local authority should do the Carer’s Support Plan and which one should pay for the support. It might be best if both local authorities worked together to plan and pay for the support.

Question 26

Which local authority do you think should do the Carer’s Support Plan?

Comments

Question 27

Which local authority should pay for the carer’s support ?

Comments

Question 28

Should the Government and local authorities come up with guidelines for this?

Yes
No
Comments

Where to send your answers

Please send your answers to:

CarersandYoungCarersPolicy@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Or to:

Carers Branch (Consultation)
Adult Care and Support Division
Directorate for Chief Nursing Officer, Patients, Public and Health Professions
Director-General Health and Social Care
The Government
2ER, St Andrews House,
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

By: 16 April 2014