We recognise that technical guidance supporting an Act of the Scottish Parliament might seem somewhat dry reading. However, the guidance sets out how the Act will be implemented from April next year. If clearly written and easily accessible, the guidance will help health boards and other health and social care employers to engage with their responsibilities under the new law. This means it will influence how nursing staff are able to deliver care in the future.
In July, we ran three engagement events to gather members’ views on the Scottish government’s consultation on the statutory guidance for the HCSA.
With over 150 pages of draft guidance, stepping up to offer us thoughts was no small commitment. To make the task more manageable, we did some of the heavy lifting in advance by asking member who attended the events to focus on about a dozen key comments. We were able to do this because, as a long-term stakeholder in the success of the legislation, we have been working with the Scottish government on the draft guidance for many months, exchanging comments and ideas in detail. In the end, we made almost 200 comments on draft versions, 70% of which were accepted by government. That allowed us to come up with our shortlist of key comments for members to review.
These events were extremely useful. Those who attended were supportive of our positions and made insightful contributions, raising new points that we have incorporated into our draft response. The areas covered included: defining and mitigating risk; robust reporting; the central role of Senior Charge Nurses and measuring outcomes; as well as the need for further clarity on some thorny technical parts of the Act.
The deadline for submitting responses to the public consultation is 19 September 2023. We’ll submit our RCN Scotland response on behalf of members and we’ll publish it on our website. We’d also encourage you to make your own individual response to the consultation – it is another opportunity to directly raise the voice of nursing with Scottish government.
The Act and the guidance are due to come into force from 1 April 2024.
You can keep up with future developments on our safe staffing webpage.
In July, we ran three engagement events to gather members’ views on the Scottish government’s consultation on the statutory guidance for the HCSA.
With over 150 pages of draft guidance, stepping up to offer us thoughts was no small commitment. To make the task more manageable, we did some of the heavy lifting in advance by asking member who attended the events to focus on about a dozen key comments. We were able to do this because, as a long-term stakeholder in the success of the legislation, we have been working with the Scottish government on the draft guidance for many months, exchanging comments and ideas in detail. In the end, we made almost 200 comments on draft versions, 70% of which were accepted by government. That allowed us to come up with our shortlist of key comments for members to review.
These events were extremely useful. Those who attended were supportive of our positions and made insightful contributions, raising new points that we have incorporated into our draft response. The areas covered included: defining and mitigating risk; robust reporting; the central role of Senior Charge Nurses and measuring outcomes; as well as the need for further clarity on some thorny technical parts of the Act.
The deadline for submitting responses to the public consultation is 19 September 2023. We’ll submit our RCN Scotland response on behalf of members and we’ll publish it on our website. We’d also encourage you to make your own individual response to the consultation – it is another opportunity to directly raise the voice of nursing with Scottish government.
The Act and the guidance are due to come into force from 1 April 2024.
You can keep up with future developments on our safe staffing webpage.
