The Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland have issued a joint statement welcoming the Scottish Government's publication of the consultation on the National Care Standards.
In a joint statement, Paul Edie, Chair of the Care Inspectorate and Denise Coia Chair of Healthcare Improvement Scotland said:
"We welcome the consultation on the future of the national care standards. They have served us well for the last decade, but with a stronger emphasis on positive outcomes for people and the formal introduction of integrated health and social care policies, now is the right time to review them.
"We support the idea of shared standards across health and social care to ensure that people get the same high level of care no matter what setting. We think shared standards will help support closer working between the sectors and improve integrated health and care experiences and outcomes for people who use care and health services.
"We strongly welcome a human rights-based approach to the standards because everybody is entitled to high-quality, safe, compassionate care that meets their needs. A rights-based approach will enable people who receive health and care services to exercise much greater voice, choice and control based on their own individual needs.
"The Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland will continue to work closely together. As well as each organisation's continued programme of inspections of care and health services, we will progress our new joint inspections of health and social care partnerships to make sure that health and care services work together effectively to provide assurance and protection and make any necessary improvements to meet the needs of people in local communities across Scotland."
The Scottish Government's publication can be found here:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/06/7325