The Scottish Government is seeking people’s views on how a National Care Service should operate including a right to a break from caring for unpaid carers (also referred to as a “right to respite”). There are lots of ways to have your say, via Carers of East Lothian (CoEL) and the National Carer Organisations (NCOs) or via the Scottish Government’s consultation portal.
If you have few minutes…
If you use social media, please respond to the snap polls and brief surveys by the NCOs that we are sharing on our Facebook page. The NCOs will use this data to inform their written responses to the Scottish Government’s consultation.
If you have an hour…
If you would like to discuss your views with other carers locally, please sign up to one of our online focus groups on:
- Wed 13th Oct, 6 to 7 pm (evening session)
- Thu 14th Oct, 12:30 to 1:30 pm (lunchtime session)
- Tue 19th Oct, 10:30 to 11:30 am (morning session)
We will reflect your views in our written response as an organisation to the Scottish Government’s consultation. Focus groups will be delivered on Zoom. To book your place on a focus group, please call 0131 665 0135 or email centre@coel.org.uk.
The NCOs are also holding briefing events and discussion sessions as part of the Carers Parliament 2021 programme of virtual events on Monday 4th, Tuesday 5th and Thursday 7th October 2021. They have produced a set of briefing documents summarising the parts of the Scottish Government’s proposals that are most directly relevant to unpaid carers.
Finally, you can submit your own written response directly using the Scottish Government’s consultation portal. You only have to respond to the issues that interest you so don’t need to read all of the consultation paper or answer all of the questions (there are 96!) unless you wish to. The consultation is open until Tuesday 2nd November 2021.
Thank you for helping to amplify the voices of unpaid carers.
