Scottish Government

Covering Letter

Primary and Community Care Directorate
Partnership Improvement and Outcomes Division
T: 0131-244 4041 F: 0131-244 5307
E: Judith.McGovern@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

To: See list attached

Your ref:
Our ref: SSA/Standards
December 2007

Dear Colleague

National Minimum Information Standards for all Adults in Scotland for Assessment, Shared Care and Support Plan, Review and Carers Assessment and Support - Consultation on the Compendium of Standards

I am writing to invite your comments on the National Minimum Standards for Assessment in the attached compendium. The compendium sets out minimum information standards for all adults in Scotland. It builds on and supersedes the National Minimum Information Standards for Single Shared Assessment issued in August 2006 ( CCD3/2006). Your views are invited by February 29 2008.

Context

Standardisation of the content of the various stages of assessment and care management is a pre-requisite for the effective recording and appropriate sharing of information for the benefit of people receiving community care services and support.

These standards have evolved from the original SSA Guidance and complement the guidance for assessment and care management issued by the Scottish Executive in 2004 (Circular CCD8/2004) and, subsequently the Care Management Framework published in 2006 in Circular CCD2/2006). The development of the standards, including those for carers, has been informed by the national outcomes performance framework for community care, announced in April 2007. The standards will support both the objectives and the measurement of the outcomes.

The standards are a national minimum and apply to all community care groups. They should be adopted by all partnerships (as defined locally).

There are two distinct types of standards used throughout the document:

• Information Standards which describe the subject matter that must be included without specifying exactly how it should be done or recorded.
• Data Standards which specify the content at a more prescriptive level and include details on format and codes to be used for each of these standards

It is recognised that the standards do not contain all the information required to address the person's individual care needs. They set out the minimum information which all professional groups within health social care and housing would expect to record - a core of information to which specialist modules can be added.

To meet the standards, local assessment and care management tools, electronic systems and processes should have the capability to record every data item in the standards, but there is no presumption that every item will be recorded for every person. For example, it is possible that fewer items will be recorded for individuals with relatively simple needs, and items will not be recorded where they are clearly not applicable ( e.g. landlord details are not applicable to a home owner)

The Standards have been developed by the Assessment Review Co-ordinating Group. which includes representation from a cross-section of partnerships, carers' organisations, and supported by staff from the Scottish Government's Joint Future Unit, the central eCare Programme Standards Branch, Analytical Services Branch and the Information Services Division of National Services Scotland. .

Work has already begun to build connections between UDSET (user and carer outcome approach) and the standards. Pilots are underway in East Renfrewshire and North Lanarkshire using the UDSET approach on user assessment and care planning and outcomes.

Consultation Process

You are invited to respond to the particular questions set out in Annex D. There is also a section for you to comment on other aspects of the document. In addition to the written consultation, we will be running a number of regional stakeholder events in January and February 2008. The dates of these will be posted on the Joint Future website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/care/JointFuture

If you have any questions about this consultation please contact Judy McGovern on 0131 244 4041 or by e-mail at Judith.McGovern@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Mike Martin
Deputy Director
Partnership Improvement and Outcomes Division

The immediately following pages set out the Scottish Government's standard practice for consultations.

ANNEX A - National Minimum Information Standards for all Adults in Scotland for Assessment, Shared Care and Support Plan, Review and Carers Assessment and Support - Consultation on the Compendium of Standards

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 29 February 2008.

Please send your response to:

Stephen.young@scotland.gsi.giv.uk

or

Stephen Young

Scottish Government,
Partnership Improvement and Outcomes Division,
Joint Future Unit,

If you have any queries contact Judy McGovern on 0131 244 4041. We would be grateful if you would use the consultation questionnaire provided as this will aid our analysis of the responses received. This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is. The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations (SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx ). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE

distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SEconsultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on national minimum standards. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by 31 May 2008.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Name:
Stephen Young
Address:
Scottish Government,
Partnership Improvement and Outcomes Division,
Joint Future Unit,

E-mail: Stephen.young@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

ANNEX B - RESPONDENT INFORMATION FORM: National Minimum Information Standards for all Adults in Scotland for Assessment, Shared Care and Support Plan, Review and Carers Assessment and Support

Please complete the details below and return it with your response. This will help ensure we handle your response appropriately. Thank you for your help.

ANNEX C - THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE CONSULTATION PROCESS

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Government working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Government, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general, Scottish Government consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

The Scottish Government encourages consultation that is thorough, effective and appropriate to the issue under consideration and the nature of the target audience. Consultation exercises take account of a wide range of factors, and no two exercises are likely to be the same.

Typically Scottish Government consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific

questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the issue, and they are also placed on the Scottish Government web site enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. Consultation exercises may also involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as through public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises. Copies of all the written responses received to a consultation exercise (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Government library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4565).

All Scottish Government consultation papers and related publications (eg, analysis of response

reports) can be accessed at: Scottish Government consultations ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations).

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review

• inform the development of a particular policy

• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals

• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

Final decisions on the issues under consideration will also take account of a range of other factors, including other available information and research evidence. While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

ANNEX D - CONSULTATION QUESTIONNAIRE

National Minimum Information Standards for all Adults in Scotland for Assessment, Shared Care and Support Plan, Review and Carers Assessment and Support - Consultation on the Compendium of Standards