Care Inspectorate guidance for services

Visit our COVID-19 FAQs page for more information.  

You can find older updates on the Archived Updates page.

Registration and variations to registration (updated 18 June)

We have received a number of enquiries regarding early learning and child care and out of school care provision for over the summer holidays and beyond. The following guidance will support providers when considering these proposals: Coronvirus (COVID-19) – intermediate response – Guidance for the Care Inspectorate registration team.

COVID-19 guides for social service workers (Added 17 June)

The Scottish Social Services Council have produced a range of 'bite-size' resources to support those working in healthcare during COVID-19. 

There are currently 9 guides that range from "key measures for infection prevention and control" to "support with death, dying and bereavement." 

Updated phase 1 guidance for fully outdoor childcare providers (Added 17 June)

The Scottish Government have released updated guidance for the reopening of fully outdoor childcare providers.

To support this a letter explaining the update has been issued by the Scottish Government Early Learning and Childcare Directorate. 

New guidance to support planning for wider reopening of ELC Services (Added 15 June)

Today the Scottish Government published new guidance for the safe reopening of early learning and childcare (ELC) services in Phase 3 of Scotland’s Routemap.

The Scottish Government Early Learning and Childcare Directorate has issued a letter to all childcare providers outlining what this guidance will mean for them.

We are now rolling out Near Me to adult residential services (Added 15 June)

Following our successful roll out of Near Me video consulting in care homes for older people and those for children and young people, we are now in the process of contacting care homes for adults to provide support in using it.

 Near Me is a video consulting service that enables people to have health and social care appointments from home or wherever is convenient. All you need is a device for making video calls like a smartphone and an internet connection. Near Me is a secure form of video consulting approved for use by the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland.

 Residential services for adults may need to support the people they care for to take part in video consultation with a GP, an outpatient appointment or talk to an out of hours service. It is important that staff are trained and confident to help people successfully access remote consultations and appointments.

 We hope to contact over 250 services across Scotland to give information and offer a practice call using Near Me. Our initial contact will be by telephone, which will be followed up by email and a video call. 

New key question for care home inspections (Added 10 June) 

In order to robustly assess care home arrangements to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, our inspections are placing particular focus on infection prevention and control, personal protective equipment and staffing in care settings. 

We have developed Key Question 7 to augment  our quality framework for care homes for older people and our quality framework for care homes for adults.  We have done this to meet the duties placed on us by the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act and subsequent guidance that we must evaluate (grade) infection prevention and control and staffing.  

This means we will carry out targeted inspections that are short, focused and carried out with colleagues from Health Improvement Scotland and Health Protection Scotland, to assess care and support for people experiencing care and support during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to put the wellbeing for people experiencing care at the heart of our inspections.  

ELC COVID-19 Update for June 2020 (Added 10 June) 

The Scottish Government has published the Early Learning and Childcare Covid-19 Update for June. This update provides guidance for childminder and childcare services who are considering reopening during phase 1 of the route map.

Advice from Police Scotland on crime prevention for care homes (Added 5 June)

Following a series of break-ins to care homes resulting in the theft of safes, Police Scotland has produced a helpful guide on simple measures you can take to protect your property. We are pleased to share it with you here.

Further information

Information is available on the NHS Inform website. The key messages for Scotland are:   

  • As part of the Scotland-wide, coordinated response to coronavirus, NHS 24 provides the most up to date information and advice here.  
  • NHS 24 has also set up a dedicated helpline for people who do not have coronavirus symptoms but are seeking information. The helpline number is 0800 028 2816 and is available Monday to Friday, 0800 to 1000, Saturday and Sunday, 0900 to 1700. 
  • People who have travelled to an affected area and have symptoms of a cough, fever or difficulty breathing should stay at home and phone their GP (family doctor), or call NHS 24 on 111 if their GP surgery is closed.
  • People with general questions are advised to visit www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus in the first instance. This is the quickest and easiest way to get information and it also means that the 111 service is able to help those people with more immediate clinical need. NHSinform includes an interactive self-help guide where people can answer a few simple questions on line to assess whether they need to seek further help or advice by telephone.
  • There is a communications toolkit with information for health and care settings to download, share and print  – please be aware that this is updated as the situation develops so should be checked frequently. Please use the latest version in your setting and update if required. 

NHS 24 has active Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels that are the official social feeds for Coronavirus in Scotland. You can follow these from the links below. 

Health Protection Scotland has also produced information and guidance which should be useful and this is updated at regular intervals.

The Scottish Government summary of response arrangements for coronavirus in Scotland can be found here.   

Other guidance

NHS Inform has published guidance leaflets and posters in a variety of different languages and easy-read format. You can download these from their website here.