The Public Health Bill will include measures to reduce the attractiveness and availability of non-medicinal e-cigarettes and tobacco. It will also ensure that the courts can deal with those extreme cases where people in care settings have suffered the worst cases of neglect and ill-treatment, and it will introduce a statutory organisational duty of candour for
providers of health and social care.
The Scottish Government has already committed to introducing an age restriction to make it an offence to sell non-medicinal e-cigarettes that contain, or could contain, nicotine to young people under age 18. We launched a consultation on 10 October 2014 to consider what additional measures are needed to protect people from behaviours and products which promote nicotine use or that could make smoking seem normal. In addition to an age restriction for non-medicinal e-cigarettes, the consultation will invite views on tobacco control, measures to restrict access to e-cigarettes by under 18 year olds and reducing the appeal of e-cigarettes to young people and non-smokers.
The Bill will also create a criminal offence of wilful neglect to ensure that the courts have adequate powers to deal with those extreme cases where people in health and social care settings have suffered the worst cases of neglect and ill-treatment. The offence is intended to be comparable to other offences that already exist in relation to people with mental illness and adults with incapacity. It will ensure that the ill-treatment or wilful neglect of individuals in any type of health or social care can be dealt with on an equal basis. We launched a consultation on 10 October 2014 to invite views on this proposal.
The Bill will also create a statutory organisational duty of candour for providers of health and social care. The duty will require providers of health and social care to offer an open and honest explanation following certain defined instances of physical and psychological harm. This will support the Scottish Government’s commitment to safe, effective and person-centred delivery of health and social care. We launched a consultation on 15 October 2014 to invite views on this proposal.
176. The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent on 1 April 2014, setting the legislative framework for integrating health and social care in Scotland. Integrated arrangements are being established by health boards and local authorities, and full integration will begin roll out from April 2015, with all arrangements to be in place by April 2016.
177. Under integration, health boards and local authorities, along with partners in the housing sector and the third sector, will bring together planning and provision of health and social care services, to improve outcomes particularly for people with multiple complex care needs. Work is underway to assure a strong role for health and social care professionals, housing organisations, and local communities, in designing and delivering better co-ordinated care.
178. By working with individuals and local communities in line with our distinctive Scottish approach, Integration Authorities will support people to achieve key outcomes such as that people, including those with disabilities, long-term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonably practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community, that health and social care services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of service users, and resources are used effectively in the provision of health and social care services, without waste.
179. The new integrated arrangements will support a transformation of care in Scotland, consistent with the 2020 Vision and the objective of meeting people’s expectation that services should be designed in a way that enables them to stay at home, maintaining normal life as far as possible and preserving the connections with their family and friends that they value. This supports the Scottish Government’s aim to give back at least 200,000 days to individuals, families and communities by 2017 that would otherwise have been spent in hospital. As part of taking forward this aim we will consult on moving towards a standard that all those ready to go home should be discharged within 72 hours.
180. Additional funding of £173 million has already been identified for
2015-16 to support the transformation of care under integration and the modernisation and protection of primary care services. This is in addition to the resources committed already in 2014-15 to support the work on unscheduled care and on delayed discharge. A further £5 million from the Scottish Government will be available ahead of this coming winter with contributions also being made by health boards and local government. The agreed work already underway between the Scottish Government and other partners in respect of the quality and availability of residential care and care at home will continue.
181. The Scottish Government recognises the vital role that unpaid carers play in caring for their family, friends and neighbours including people who are vulnerable, and will introduce a Carers Bill that will extend the rights of carers and young carers.