Revised quality framework for Housing support services


During the Covid-19 pandemic we published key question 7 as an addition to our quality framework for housing support and offender accommodation services.

In response to our learning from the pandemic and to incorporate a clearer focus on infection prevention and control, we have now updated this framework. We have made important updates to reflect the changing practice and policy context in which care and support is now provided.  

These updates include:


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Guidance for providers on the assessment of staffing levels: Premises-based services


In collaboration with stakeholders and colleagues the Safe staffing programme has revised the guidance for providers on the assessment of staffing levels: Premises-based services.

This revised guidance is designed to support providers of care homes, premises-based support services, school care accommodation, secure care and premises-based offender accommodation to have clear information on the effective assessment of safe staffing. 

This is in line with our quality frameworks, the Health and Social Care Standards and the Health and Care Staffing (Scotland) Act 2019 which comes into effect in April 2024.


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Blog: our new animation and how it came about

Blog: our new animation and how it came about


Read what Mary Morris, Team Manager and Julie Brown, Involvement Adviser, had to say about the new animation co-designed with our volunteers, how it came about and why, and what happened during the making of it.

The children and young people’s team were genuinely inspired by the approach used to involve our young inspection volunteers in the co-design of both the Text to Complain service, and the recent animation which promoted this service with our children and young people. We were keen to take a similar style and meaningfully engage our volunteers with lived experience of care in our evolving approach to inspection work. We thought that this chimed really well with the messages from the Promise and ensured that our young people’s voices influenced our work in an authentic way.


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Submit your views about a patient safety commissioner for Scotland


The Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament on 7 October 2022. The Bill is now available to read at Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill – Bills (proposed laws) – Scottish Parliament | Scottish Parliament Website, you can also submit your views to Parliament in their Citizen Space for the Bill: Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill - Scottish Parliament - Citizen Space.

The purpose of the bill is to establish a commissioner for Scotland to support system-wider safety of health care and to promote the importance of the views of people who use services and members of the public about the safety of healthcare.


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Board member Charlotte Armitage collaborates with National Theatre of Scotland


“What if rather than criticise the poor and how they carry their burden, we stood back in awe that they can carry it at all?  What if we realised that we are all connected to each other?  What if we held each other the way we’d like to be held ourselves?" 

Our Board member Charlotte Armitage has collaborated with the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) on a new digital production called ‘Holding/Holding On’, as part of its ‘Care in Contemporary Scotland – A Creative Enquiry’ programme. The film is available to watch now as part of #CareExperiencedWeek and can be watched here


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