Care sector may become ‘irreparably broken’ without more support, union says

More support is needed for the care sector in the next Budget or it may become “irreparably broken”, a union has warned.

Unite the Union says NHS Scotland reportedly spent £440 million on hospital beds, with one in nine occupied by patients who could not leave hospital due to delayed discharge in the 12 months leading up to April 2025.

Unite argued this money was squandered and could have been given to the social care sector for patients in need of support.

Unite says 28% of delayed discharges are due to awaiting a place at a care home, a further 27% are waiting on care home arrangements being finished, 27% due to complex delays, 14% are in need of a community care assessment and the remaining 4% were still in hospital due to other reasons.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “The Scottish government has a clear choice to support frontline social care before the system becomes irreparably broken.

“It’s time for the politicians to back our social care workers and that only comes through investment in people and services.”

In September, Unite laid out a series of demands for the Scottish Government, which were to raise the pay for social care workers, increase funding for the industry and to engage with stakeholders to set out future plans for the sector.

Shauna Wright, Unite lead officer for social care in Scotland, said: “Scotland’s social care workers are closely watching the Scottish government as it sets out their priorities for the coming year.

“The politicians can either back them and start to fix the crisis or continue to ignore them at a massive cost to Scottish society.”

The Scottish Government was approached for comment.