Health Secretary ‘open to changing’ how controversial care shake-up phased in

HUMZA Yousaf has said he is willing to discuss “phasing in” a shake-up of Scotland’s care services, after complaints it is being rushed through with key details missing.

The Health Secretary insisted the Scottish Government remained committed to the National Care Service (NCS), but left open the possibility of a revised timetable.

“I’m open to discussions… about whether there is a way of potentially exploring how we phase the National Care Service,” he said.

It follows weeks of mounting criticism of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill at Holyrood as a series of committees take evidence on its finances and implications on the ground.

The NCS is intended to create consistent care standards Scotlandwide, ending an alleged “postcode lottery”, and improve and harmonise pay for staff.

Nicola Sturgeon has said it will be the biggest public sector reform since the NHS in 1948.

But spending watchdog Audit Scotland said the financial memorandum accompanying the Bill “significantly understates” the cost – put at up to £1.3billlion – due to outdated inflation figures.

The plan has also been criticised by councils as a power grab, while a senior SNP MSP has said it is a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”, arguing the few poor care homes can be brought up to scratch without creating a new system.

In June, Mr Yousaf said the Government intended the NCS to be operational by the end of the current parliament in 2026.

On BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Yousaf was asked if more money could be found for health workers’s pay to avoid strikes by putting the NCS “on hold”.

He said rolling the NCS beyond 2026 into the next parliamentary term would not free up money for the current financial year, 2022/23, but did not rule it out entirely.

He then introduced the idea of changing the phasing-in of the NCS.

He said: “We will talk to anybody who’s got concerns, including members of the opposition, including the likes of [care home industry body] Scottish Care.

“If there are sensible ideas around how we phase the [NCS], then I am up for that discussion and we will make a decision on that.

“Of course, we keep that under consideration.”

Mr Yousaf denied he was “backing away” from the NCS, and said the Bill for it would “progress in the timetable that it’s meant to”.

But he added: “I’m open to discussions with the sector.

“It’s not going to come up overnight. It’s not going to be a light switch moment, where the National Care Service didn’t exist and suddenly existed.

“It’s going to have to be phased. “If there is a sensible discussion to be had around what that phasing looks like, the government will obviously engage in those discussions.”