Scottish government scraps plan for National Care Service | UK News

The Scottish government has scrapped its flagship plan to create a National Care Service.

The reforms, which had already been scaled back and delayed, were axed by Social Care Minister Maree Todd in a statement to parliament.

The government still intends to pass the National Care Service Bill, though it will be stripped of the fundamental pillar of a National Care Service.

Instead, it includes smaller reforms that have cross-party support.

Opposition parties accused the Scottish government of wasting time and money on the scheme.

Todd said the government remained committed to creating a National Care Service – but did not set out how the government would achieve this after scaling back its bill.

She noted that the SNP did not have the support it needed in parliament to pass its plans into law.

“I’ve concluded that we must deliver the Scottish National Care Service without legislating for structural reform, securing a different means to deliver our goals,” the minister told MSPs.

She said that meant the government would remove part one of the bill, which included plans for a national care board, while continuing with parts two and three of the bill.

Todd said that would be “a source of disappointment to many”, particularly those with lived experience of the care system.

“I want to reassure those people that I remain committed to the ambitions of the National Care Service,” she told parliament.

The minister said the government had made “significant improvements to social care during this parliament” and intended to continue this work.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the National Care Service as the most ambitious reform since devolution when it was announced in 2021.

The original plan, inspired by the NHS, was to take social care provision and staff away from local authorities into a new national agency.

That had already been dropped in favour of creating a national care board to supervise service delivery and improve consistency – but opposition MSPs said they could not support the bill unless it ditched that proposal as well.

Opposition parties repeatedly questioned whether the government could afford to set up and manage the service.

Council body Cosla and trade unions withdrew their support for the project, while a number of health boards and care organisations expressed serious concerns.

The Scottish Greens also dropped their backing in October last year, meaning the SNP no longer had enough support to get the measures through Holyrood.

Despite those setbacks, plans for a national oversight body had remained in the bill. MSPs had been due to consider potential amendments to the proposals in November.

Before that could happen, First Minister John Swinney announced more time was needed to consider views and “get the proposals right”.

Health Secretary Neil Gray insisted the plans had been “delayed, not scrapped”.

Some smaller reforms do retain support at Holyrood and could be passed in a stripped down version of the bill.

Anne’s Law, which would allow people in care homes to receive visits from a named love one even in restricted measures, is expected to pass as part of the proposed legislation.

It is named after Anne Duke, who died aged 63 in November 2021 after being cut off from her family while battling early-onset dementia during the Covid pandemic.

Her family has campaigned for a change in the law, which was put into national standards in March 2022.

A proposal for a national social work agency to provide a national standard for that area of care is expected to pass too.

The right to breaks for unpaid carers and new rules on the sharing of information in the care system between health and social care have been kept in the bill as well.

SNP ministers said in October that almost £30m had been spent on plans for the care service.

Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Sandesh Gulhane said the money had been “wasted” on the scheme.

He said the government had “failed to listen to experts, trade unions and councils that this bill was fatally flawed”.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the process had been a “waste of time and money”.

The UK government also says it has ambitions to set up a National Care Service.

However, a report on long-term funding arrangements for social care in England is not expected to be published until 2028.

Labour Health Secretary West Streeting has warned it will “take time” to “finally grasp the nettle on social care reform”.