​Health and Social Care Alliance chief says debate has been "momentous"

People must be at the centre of any new reframing of democracy in Scotland, a leading health charity has said.

The Health and Social Care Alliance says a focus on the needs of individuals must be at the heart of the constitutional debate, as the country looks at what – if any – new powers it is to be given by Westminster following the no vote in the independence referendum.

Chief executive Ian Welsh said: “The referendum debate has been a momentous process and it has been humbling and gratifying to have watched the level of engagement by individuals and communities.

We are a small country with big ideas and we need to be more determined now than ever to imagine a future, inclusive Scotland

“The Alliance has been arguing that public services need to recognise that individuals and communities are part of the solution and our strapline “people at the centre” has become a call to arms in public service reform and people have been at the centre of the referendum in the most profound way.

“We have argued that working with people rather than viewing them as passive recipients of services, and empowering people to control their future, might allow us to consider new ways of looking at how we design functions and services at all levels.

“That empowering principle must be applied in the next few months as we look at constitutional reform and people must be at the centre of the wider debate of increased powers for Scotland.

“We are a small country with big ideas and we need to be more determined now than ever to imagine a future, inclusive Scotland that is innovative, progressive, mutual and democratic in its drive to place people at the centre of services.

“Moreover, whatever the challenges of that future, the impact of demography, the effect of fiscal constraint, it must be suffused with a spirit of hope not fear; it must be driven by shared ambition, not despair.”