Current health and social care policy

Health Policy

Learning Outcome 1

Current policies for health and social care in Scotland

Last week, we consid= ered some historical aspects of health and social care policy in the 1980s and 1990s, specifically reform of the statutory health care sector. This week, = we will look in more detail at the most recent reforms affecting the statutory sector, and current policy direction, including the demands of an ageing population and the increasing shift to a ‘mixed economy of care’= ;.

Who makes policies?

The simple answer to= this is of course ‘the government’, but as we saw last week, different levels of government have different levels of responsibility. While central government controls public spending and most of the taxation, responsibilit= y for health care policy in Scotland is largely devolved to the Scottish Parliament (with Westminster holding ‘reserved powers’ on some issues, e.g. health and safety legislation and standa= rds of medical training).

Within the Scottish Parliament then, who is responsible for deciding the best way to deliver he= alth care, how much to spend, and what the priorities should be? The government = in Scotland is called the Scottish Executive, and this is presently made up of Labour – the largest single party in the Scottish Parliament – and the Liberal Democrats, their coalition partners.

In addition to the S= cottish Executive – who are responsible for the overall direction of governme= nt in Scotland – there is a Health Minister (currently Andy Kerr MSP, wi= th Lewis MacDonald MSP as his Deputy), heading up a Health Department, which consists of civil servants, advisors and junior ministers who develop speci= fic policies. The Health Minister takes specific responsibility for health issu= es within the government, and can be questioned by the media and other MSPs on these issues.

When the government = develop new policies for Health and Community Care, they will put forward a Bill. T= he public have an opportunity to give feedback to the Bill, as do patientsR= 17; groups and health professionals’ groups. The Bill is scrutinised by a group of nine MSPs from different parties who sit on the Health Committee: = they can also call expert witnesses, such as certain medical professionals, those with expertise in working with particular groups (e.g. people with learning disabilities) and others with an expert knowledge of a specific issue.=

MSPs who are not par= t of the government (e.g. MSPs from the SNP, Conservatives, Greens, Socialists or independent MSPs) can also put forward Private Members Bills for considerat= ion by the Health Committee and Parliament&nbs= p; - one recent example is Colin Fox MSP’s (SSP, Lothians) Bill to abolish prescription charges. While the Bill was unsuccessful, it attracted sufficient support that the Executive decided to review the way in which exemptions from prescription charges are decided in Scotland. When they considere= d the Bill, the Health Committee heard evidence from groups such as the Royal Soc= iety of Pharmacists.

Useful sites:

www.scotland.gov.uk – the Sc= ottish Executive website

www.scottish.parliament.uk – the Scottish Parliament website

http://www.scrapcharges.org.uk/ - anti-prescription charges campaign

Party Policies

When parties stand f= or election to the Scottish Parliament, they produce a manifesto – a document which outlines the party’s political positions and what they would do if they were in government. An excerpt from Labour’s 2003 manifesto is included at the back of this handout – you don’t n= eed to read it all, but look at the statements in bold at the end of each secti= on.

Do you think these a= re realistic aims?

Do you agree with al= l the policies? Are there any you would change or add to?

Why might some targe= ts not be met?

You can compare other parties’ health pol= icies at:

www.snp.org – Scottish National= Party

ww= w.scotlibdems.org.uk – Liberal Democrats

www.scottishsocialistparty.org – Scottish Socialist Party

www.scottishtories.org.uk – Scottish Conservatives

www.scottishgreens.org.uk – Scottish Greens

&nb= sp;

Current policies in health and social care=

At any one point in = time, the Health Department may be working on a number of different pieces of legislation and policy – updating standards, planning for future need= s, and trying to improve health care provision and overcome inequality.

Rather than trying t= o cover them all, we will concentrate here on four current areas of policy in health and social care.

Your tutor will also= provide you with a handout on the Health section of ‘Partnership for a Better Scotland’, which gives a more complete overview of the Executive̵= 7;s priorities for health policy in 2003 – 2007.

Free Personal Care for the elderly (introd= uced in Scotland in 2002)

Care Commission & Care Standards (2001= )

Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act (2003)

Community Health Partnerships (2003)<= /o:p>

Task

You should work in g= roups of 3 – 4 for this task. Your tutor will allocate you one of the above to= pic areas to examine. You should read through the relevant pages of the handout= and try to summarise the main points of this policy on the flipchart sheet provided. Remember to try and use your own words!

You should be prepar= ed to explain the topic area to the rest of the class – remember to take no= tes when other groups are explaining their topic areas, as this will leave you = with less to do when it comes to the assessment.