SNP National Care Service plan is fundamentally flawed and will do nothing to address crisis – Jackie Baillie

This sticking plaster approach to social care needs to be replaced by a consistent service which guarantees the best standard of care for patients and improved conditions of service for employees. That is Labour’s vision, reluctantly adopted by the SNP but, typically of this government, enacted in such a cack-handed way that the proposals have come ashore as a legislative wreck.

The SNP government has taken almost two years to bring the National Care Service bill to parliament and it’s so lacking in detail that it’s impossible to know what the real plan is. The controversial bill, published over 20 months ago, has been widely criticised by care providers, trade unions, and those with lived experience. The parliament’s finance committee has repeatedly expressed concern about the legislation’s true cost.

Too important to get wrong

We don't know how the government still intends to change what they've already laid before parliament or what deal they’ve made with councils to enact and supervise care locally. That makes it difficult for anyone to look at where the bill could be improved.

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That’s why on Wednesday, I lodged a motion to send the bill back to committee for further evidence. The National Care Service is too important to get wrong. But the SNP-Green government cynically bulldozed through its bungled plans. Scottish Labour is steadfast in its support for a National Care Service worthy of the name. It was our idea over a decade ago. But the botched SNP-Green bill is well short of what’s needed.

After an almost two-year delay, the SNP is now trying to railroad through a fundamentally flawed bill that will do nothing to address the social care crisis. That this SNP government is trying to paint itself as the champion of a National Care Service after opposing the principle for a decade is laughable. That they then proceed to produce a plan so vague and misplaced is lamentable.

No blank cheque

The communities who need a National Care Service the most are left in limbo. No wonder stakeholders are lining up to criticise the SNP’s approach. Thousands of Scots struggle to access desperately needed care packages and the workforce crisis continues unresolved. The SNP’s proposed National Care Service will not be fully implemented until the end of the decade and could cost as much as £2.2 billion.

Scottish Labour will not write them a blank cheque by supporting these confused plans. The offer is on the table to work constructively with government to get this right but so far it has fallen on deaf ears. The SNP must act now to support social care, boost pay in the sector, deliver a right to breaks, and Anne’s Law to guarantee contact with loved ones. All these important changes are being held back by the shambles the government has made of this bill.

Social care needs to be put on the same footing and same level as the NHS and only Scottish Labour has a plan to deliver the National Care Service that we need.

Jackie Baillie MSP is Scottish Labour health spokesperson