Self-directed support in Scotland

The Herald in Scotland has covered the research published in the Centre for Welfare Reform's recent paper Self-Directed Support: Your Choice, Your Right.

Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care said law on Self Directed Support (SDS), which states that people with disabilities or people with support needs should be given control of their own care, are being routinely flouted:

“I can count on one hand the number of individuals in care homes who have been given the choices they are supposed to get. Self-directed support is not an optional extra or a luxury. It is the law. But it has not been properly, fully and robustly implemented. Government cannot just pass laws, it has to make sure they are followed.”

Henry Simmons, Chief Executive of Alzheimer Scotland said neglect of the care workforce was part of the problem:

“If you want people to participate in providing really high quality care, we have to reject this institutional neglect and look at the value we place on the social care workforce.”

John Dalrymple, of the charity In Control Scotland observed that the benefits of self-directed support are being restricted to those who have “capacity” and often people have to agree to spend their budget the way the council dictates.

This article covers the failure to respect human rights:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/1539277

And the following article explores the limited implementation of the legislation on self-directed support:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/15399418

You can read the report Self-Directed Support: Your Choice, Your Right, on which these articles are based here.

Henry Simmons, Donald Macaskill, John Dalrymple and Simon Duffy at the launch of the report Self-Directed Support: Your Choice, Your Right in Glasgow