People who access care in Scotland, and their carers, can now access a fresh new source of quality-assured information about care.
Today Scotland’s social care scrutiny and improvement body, the Care Inspectorate, has welcomed the newly revamped Care Information Scotland service.
The online and telephone service, which first launched in 2010, has now been expanded to provide accessible, quality-assured information to all carers, those being cared for and care support services across Scotland.
Paul Edie, chair of the Care Inspectorate, said: “We are delighted to welcome the re-launch of this important service.
“As Scotland’s social care scrutiny and improvement body, The Care Inspectorate was keen to lend our expertise and experience to help shape this project, along with a number of other organisations, including Age Scotland, the Carers Trust and Shared Care.
“I would encourage everyone to log on to www.careinfoscotland.scot to find out more.
“The Care Inspectorate looks forward to continuing our close partnership with NHS24 to help us provide people in Scotland with vital and reliable information about care.”
NHS 24 Head of Health Information Services, Lynne Huckerby, said: "This fresh new service now offers features such as web chat, direct links to social care across local councils and the ability to share content and information,
"The service is designed to complement service provision in local areas and provides advice and signposting information a range of topics, allowing people to make informed decisions. This service will be a useful resource for those finding themselves in a caring role for the first time."
NHS 24 - which manages the service - has worked in partnership with the Scottish Government, the Care Inspectorate, and a wide range of partners to ensure the re-designed website and telephone service meets the needs of carers and those being cared for.
The Care Information Scotland helpline is available on 0800 011 3200 between 8am and 10pm seven days a week. The online service is available at www.careinfoscotland.scot and includes video content, webchat and browsealoud, a speech and reading support tool which can also translate material into different languages.
The Care Inspectorate’s own website, www.careinspectorate.com provides detailed information about individual care services across Scotland, including up to date inspection reports on all registered care services.