The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 requires the Scottish Government to prepare an ICIA for a policy or service which is likely to have an effect on island communities which is significantly different from the effect on other communities.

How have we engaged with island communities in developing the National Care Service (NCS)?

The first consultation on the NCS ran from 9 August to 2 November 2021 and received almost 1,300 responses. Over 100 engagement events and meetings were held, including 3 public engagement sessions aimed specially at island communities and 2 meetings with local authorities that encompass island communities.

Throughout the summer of 2023, we also held a series of regional events across different communities in Scotland as part of our on-going work to co-design the National Care Service. This included events in Skye and Shetland.

An ICIA was carried out for the National Care Service when the Bill was first introduced to parliament and was published in June 2022. Given the mechanisms for how the NCS will be delivered has changed, we are now updating the ICIA to fully understand the impact of the policy on island communities.

What have island communities told us so far?

Issues raised specific to island communities included:

• the general need for flexibility to account for specific island and rural communities when developing a national approach to social care;

• barriers to accessing social care for island communities such as transport limitations and small and dispersed populations;

• barriers to portability of care packages between urban and rural/island areas;

• barriers to social worker and social care recruitment due to working age population decline and the need to attract workers to the islands;

• potential disruption to existing mature integration arrangements that have developed to account for island settings;

• impact of any disruption on local authority provision of social care due to local authorities delivering a far greater share of social care on islands compared to mainland Scotland;

• ensuring funding models for social care accurately reflect additional costs associated with delivery on islands.

ICIA Consultation Questions

1. What are the benefits to your health and wellbeing on living in an island community?
2. What barriers exist in accessing community health and social care support in your island area?
3. What barriers exist for recruitment and retention of community health and social care staff in your island area?
4. What opportunities and risks does the National Care Service present for island communities?
5. How can we ensure that the National Care Service is flexible enough to meet the needs of island communities?

Click on the following link to put forward your response to the questions:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=R3T3DoMQ7E24nyfHZQdoQMPGEtZwRI9OvsZ8Y85iH8hUMkdFTUxBQ0ZGSjFYMUpFSzE4WjVIRzZBWC4u

Click HERE to view the NCS factsheet.