Ambitious and overdue but new care service will not happen overnight
Former FM hails care plans as family of tragic student warns system is broken
The creation of a National Care Service is long overdue but unlikely to be created in ministers’ time frame, according Henry Mcleish.
The former first minister, who was responsible for delivering free personal care for the elderly in Scotland, questioned whether the new service, billed by Nicola Sturgeon as the biggest public-sector reform since the creation of the NHS, could be up and running in five years.
Meanwhile, Alison Evison,
the leader of Cosla, the umbrella organisation for Scotland’s 32 councils, said the start-up costs of a new service should be spent on improving care. A National Care Service (NCS), which was included in the Programme for Government on Tuesday, would take responsibility for social care away from councils and put ministers in charge.
The Scottish Government would oversee the delivery of care, standards, training and staff pay and conditions, while giving support for unpaid carers.
Mcleish, who served as first minister in 2000-01, said: “I like the big ambition and I like the philosophy that it is based on. But the really important point is that this will not be done overnight.
“Social care in Scotland has enormous problems and challenges, and we have to be patient in relation to both the structural changes that will be required and the level of investment.
“We have 32 councils in Scotland, each with their own rates of pay, each with their own assessment systems, each with their own criteria. So what you have is a very, very complex situation that cannot be described as fair and, quite frankly, is in need of radical reform.
“We should be patient and see it against a background in Scotland of unnecessary complexity and a lack of transparency in the processes for social care and financial assessments. For most people, social care costs funding in Scotland is like an impenetrable jungle.”
As Labour First Minister, Mcleish introduced free personal care for the elderly in 2001, despite opposition even within his own party.
He said: “There was a lot of pressure on me not to proceed with free personal care because England didn’t have it.
“Even in Scotland, a lot of people said it allowed the wealthy to get help, but the point of the health service is that it is free at the point of need.
“I was under a lot of pressure to ditch this idea, but I not only believed that it was right in itself but also a forerunner of how we could reconstruct care and as we moved forward.
“We proceeded, but the problem has been from there is that clearly there are been other political issues on the horizon. We could have made progress long ago. The fact that we are now doing so is encouraging.”
The Scottish Government plans to establish the new National Care Service by the end of the current parliament in 2026.
Mcleish said: “Such a major reform may take longer than 2026. But, if we get it right, it will be worthwhile.
“But in the interim there are a number of big social priorities that we should be addressing. The danger is that we wait until 2026 and beyond before anything is finalised.
“We have 32 councils offering different levels of care support, different assessment, different criteria, and we have to look at the care in the care homes themselves which varies enormously.”
Cosla president Evison said there would be “massive costs” in restructuring the care service.
She said: “We believe if money is available for care
it should be put into improving outcomes, put into local delivery and supporting our workforce and local partners to deliver that care. That is needed now but structural change will take a long time.
“We need to improve outcomes now, and it can be improved through working with our local councils and their partners in our communities to deliver a local service influenced by the people who receive that care.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPS on Tuesday that the Bill to create a National Care Service would see “the most significant public service reform since the creation of the NHS”.
She said: “The establishment of the National Care Service will spark much debate and it is vital that we get it right.
“But done well, as we intend, a National Care
Service will be one of the biggest ever achievements of this parliament – and, just like the NHS in the wake of the Second World War, it will be a fitting legacy from the trauma of Covid.”