What will Scotland's new law on care reform mean for people with Parkinson's?

The Scottish Parliament passed the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill on 11 June 2025. It will now become law.

The new legislation includes several measures that will affect people with Parkinson’s and unpaid care partners in Scotland. These include:

• The development of a single electronic health and care record. 

• Creating a legal right to breaks for carers. 

• Creating Anne’s Law, so care home residents have a right to receive visitors and to visit others.

• Allowing continuity of care when someone moves between local authority areas.

Electronic health and care record

This means that everyone will be able to access and control their own health and social care information digitally. It will also enable records to be shared between different parts of the NHS and social care for the first time.

This information should make care safer for people with complex conditions like Parkinson’s. For example, if someone with Parkinson’s is admitted to hospital, ward staff may not even know that they have Parkinson’s. Electronic records will mean that important information is available to the professionals involved in a person’s care, wherever they are.

Creating a legal right to breaks for carers

Supporting someone with Parkinson’s can be very challenging, and being able to take time to follow your own interests is very important for emotional and physical wellbeing. Short breaks from caring are sometimes known as respite. Read more about breaks for carers.

The new law means that local councils must “identify the need” for unpaid carers to take a break. This includes the support needed to do so, such as suitable care provision for the supported person. Unfortunately, the law does not create additional funding for providing breaks, so we will be watching closely to make sure this commitment is delivered.

Creating Anne’s Law

This was created in response to the Covid pandemic, when care home residents were deprived of visitors for many months, with a devastating impact on wellbeing and mental health. The new law will mean visits will be stopped only when there is a very high bar, like a clear threat to life, health or wellbeing.

Allowing continuity of care

This is for people who receive social care. It means people who move to a different council area should receive the same package of care that they previously received.

What we think

Tanith Muller, Parliamentary and Campaigns Manager at Parkinson’s UK Scotland, said,

“These measures promise welcome improvements for people with Parkinson’s and those who provide unpaid care in Scotland.

“But changing the law alone is not enough to change a system at breaking point. We are really concerned about what happens next.

“It’s a huge struggle for unpaid carers to get breaks from caring now, with widespread rationing of support and little flexibility in provision. Gaining a legal right to a short break is no good if there is neither funding nor suitable care available to enable you to take it up.

“With social care packages increasingly hard to access, and cuts to the vital support that people with Parkinson’s receive, it is difficult to see how people will be able to access equivalent care when moving to a new home, even if the law says they should be able to.

“These legal measures are going to take time, money and commitment to deliver. People with Parkinson’s and those closest to them need Scottish government, the NHS and councils to work together to make them real.”