Legislation protecting people in care

Overview National Assistance Act 1948 Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 NHS and Community Care Act 1990 National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992 Human Rights Act 1998 Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 Equality Act 2010 Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 Public Bodies (Joint working) (Scotland) Act 2014 Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 Further information about legislation

Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002

The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act introduced 2 new changes:

• the introduction of free personal care for older people, regardless of income or whether they live at home or in residential care
• the creation of rights for informal or unpaid carers, with the intention of providing adequate support services to ensure the continuation of care-giving in the community

The act created the right to a separate carer’s assessment and the responsibility of health boards to produce ‘carer information strategies‘ which must be submitted free of charge to carers.

The act was amended in June 2018 (The Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment (Regulations) 2018) as Parliament agreed to extend free personal care to people under the age of 65 regardless of their condition, by 1 April 2019.