On 1 April 2018, Scotland's Health and Social Care Standards came into effect, replacing the National Care Standards.  The Care Inspectorate is required, by law, to consider the Health and Social Care Standards when making decisions during our inspections and other scrutiny and improvement work.

We encourage services to refer to these when planning and delivering care.

Over time, the Care Inspectorate is testing and evaluating different ways to carry out its inspections of care services against the new Standards, starting with care homes for older people in summer 2018. 　

As part of implementing the new Health and Social Care Standards, the Care Inspectorate reviewed the adult to child ratios in early learning and childcare (ELC) settings and issued guidance.  This reflects the ratios that existed under the previous National Care Standards, with some additional advice included within the guidance.  The guidance will be reviewed in May 2019. 

Care Inspectorate report on Health and Social Care Standards implementation