Whether it plans to group residential care homes and nursing homes together under the single term "care home"; if so, when it plans to do t…

The distinction between residential care homes and nursing homes was removed on 1 April 2002, the day on which the new Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (Care Commission) became operational. The removal of the distinction means that there will be no distressing moves for those whose care needs change. The single term "care home" is currently being used to describe establishments which were formerly known as either residential care homes or nursing homes, and from 2003 it is planned to conduct a regular "care homes" census which will replace the current census' of residential care homes (run by the Scottish Executive) and the nursing homes census (run by ISD, Scotland).The Executive is currently evaluating its own information needs, along with those of the NHS and the new Care Commission. The need to collect, analyse and disseminate the information published in Scottish Community Care Statistics 2001 remains.