Minister: Social care status quo in Scotland is ‘not acceptable’

Scotland’s social care minister Maree Todd has said she is “absolutely committed” to delivering a new National Care Service amid ongoing delays, insisting the status quo is “not acceptable”.

It emerged earlier this week Ms Todd sent a letter to Holyrood’s Health Committee on Wednesday evening, confirming stage two of the Bill will no longer start on November 26, as was previously planned.

Instead, she said a new timetable for the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will be agreed in the new year.

The move came after unions working in the care sector and local government body Cosla withdrew their support for the Bill – which is also opposed by all opposition parties at Holyrood.

Ministers put forward the plans for a National Care Service (NCS) after a review of care services, led by former NHS Scotland chief executive Derek Feeley, recommended establishing one.

While First Minister John Swinney has said the Government will “take its time” to get the plans right, there has been speculation that the flagship proposals will be dropped.

Ms Todd was asked whether it was time to scrap the Bill altogether on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday morning.

She replied: “We are absolutely committed to delivering the National Care Service.

“The Bill team have heard from thousands of people over the last few years who are really struggling to access social care in this country.

“Derek Feeley’s review of adult social care was very clear in what it recommended. He was absolutely certain that we needed to establish a National Care Service underpinned by a human rights based approach and giving a voice to people with lived experience at every level.”

Ms Todd went on to say she was “well aware” of the level of opposition to the Bill from bodies such as Cosla but insisted it was important to continue with the legislation to assist those struggling to access social care.

She continued: “We are absolutely clear that the status quo is not acceptable, we need to change the way we deliver social care in Scotland and we will reflect on what we have heard over the last few months.

“That’s why we have asked Parliament for a pause on the legislation and we will regroup and find a way forward.”

Pressed on whether she could give a guarantee the existing Bill would not end up being scrapped in the new year Ms Todd would only say all parties at Holyrood needed to “put our politics aside” and put their “shoulder to the wheel” in delivering change.

She added: “I have worked really hard with stakeholders right across the board to develop a proposal that everybody agreed with.

“I thought last year when we made an agreement with Cosla we made an agreement on tripartite, shared accountability between ourselves as ministers, local authorities and the NHS.

“We worked intensively over the last year and a half on that agreement and had agreed, probably, over 90% of it.

“It was with great disappointment that I found myself in the situation that they unilaterally withdrew support.

“They had asked for a pause in negotiations over the course of the summer because they found themselves with capacity challenges in terms of their ability to focus on the challenge of delayed discharges and to work out detail with the legislation.

“At the end of the summer, Cosla leaders made a decision to withdraw support from the Bill without coming back to the table and without hearing from the voices of lived experience.”

Asked if she was blaming Cosla for the delay in the Bill, Ms Todd replied: “I think we need to set aside blame. I think we need to listen to the voices of lived experience who are appealing to all of us who have a role in this … to work together for the good of our citizens and that is what I’m trying to do.”

Earlier on the programme, Scottish Conservative party chairman Craig Hoy branded the National Care Service plan as a “huge power grab on councils”.

He claimed the Scottish Government had “completely and utterly botched” the introduction of the Bill.

“What the Scottish Government has done is spend the last three years with a deeply flawed concept which has now lost support right across Scotland,” he said.

“We warned them at the outset that this was what was going to happen and, yet again, the SNP Government didn’t listen.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told the PA news agency: “It’s a shambles and it’s the latest example of a Government that’s lost its way, is incompetent, is bad with people’s money and is actually failing Scots every single day.”

Mr Sarwar said the Scottish Government has already wasted millions of pounds on trying to set up the National Care Service.

“That’s money that could have been spent on care packages, care at home, staff, and more resources for the social care sector,” he said. “But it’s a complete shambles. It’s a mess.”

He urged the Government to “stop the chaos, stop the incompetence, stop the waste and actually focus on delivering for people”.

He added: “But frankly, I don’t trust them to do that.”