New Body Replacing Care Commission - only in Scotland
From April 1 2011 the Care Commission will no longer exist and a
new body, Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS)
will inspect, regulate and support improvement of social care and
social work services across Scotland. The child protection work
currently done by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE)
will also pass to SCSWIS.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) will scrutinise healthcare
services and SCSWIS social work and social care services, including
child protection and the integration of children's services. HIS
and SCSWIS will take on work currently carried out by,
- Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE)
- NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS)
- Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA)
- The Care Commission
SCSWIS and HIS will provide public assurance on service quality,
hold councils and hold service providers to account on improvement.
Over time, they will allow people who use services, their carers
and the wider public to see and experience further significant
improvement in the quality of services.
Why make these changes?
The Scottish government is keen to reduce the number of public
agencies which will bring with it a number of benefits,
- The changes mean a reduction in the overall amount of scrutiny
activity for service organisations while ensuring that individual
services are scrutinised in an appropriate and proportionate
way.
- Service providers will have more time to concentrate on
improving services and delivering better outcomes for people who
use services.
- Fewer bodies should contribute to less bureaucracy and
therefore better value for money.
- Verified self-evaluation by service providers will be further
developed to help streamline the amount of external scrutiny on
service providers.