Following acceptance of the recommendations arising from Lord Sutherland's Review of Free Personal and Nursing Care, the Free Personal Care Access and Entitlement Group was asked to establish proposals for consistent and transparent eligibility criteria and waiting times. The remit of the Group was to develop detailed proosals for a consistent model for access to community care services across all local authorities.
On 26 May 2009 the Group wrote to Local Authority Directors of Social Work and Chief Social Work officers seeking their formal views on draft guidance on national eligibility criteria for access to community care services for all people and waiting times for personal and nursing care rather than only older people. At this time it was felt that the inclusion of this wider client grouping provided a better outcome for the people of Scotland to ensure that principles of transparency and consistency in the assessment of need are applied as widely as possible.
The closing date for responses was 17 July 2009. A total of 43 responses to the consultation were received. This included 28 responses from local authorities, 7 from client groups, 4 from health boards, 3 from care provider groups and a response from the Association of Directors of Social Work.
Following a number of emerging concerns and issues highlighted by the consultation process and discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) it was agreed that the guidance would apply solely to free personal care clients as would the 6 week waiting time for those clients assessed as being at "critical" or "substantial" risk. The guidance was altered to reflect this position and was issued to local authorities on 28 Serptember 2009. All 32 local authorities have confirmed that from 1 December 2009 their local arrangements are compatible with the guidance.
Local authorities are expected to adhere to the guidance with regard to personal and nursing care for older people, in line with the political agreement between Council Leaders and Scottish Ministers, however it is entirely a matter for each local authority to decide if they will apply the guidance to other client groups.