Delayed £30m flagship care reform plan to 'end postcode lottery' axed in Scotland
The plans for a National Care Service in Scotland have been officially scrapped. It was intended to be a unified, nationwide network of care boards across the country mirroring the NHS. It will now be reverted to a non-statutory advisory board, with the Bill still expected to progress through Parliament.
According to the BBC, around £30million has been spent trying to push the plans through to reality with a series of consultations, legislative redrafts and political debates. It had previously been scaled back and endured years of delays and disputes within the Scottish Government.
The National Care Service was intended to end the “postcode lottery” many felt was at play in Scotland. The Bill the service was a part of will still be going through Parliament, albeit stripped of this pillar proposal.
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Social Care Minister Maree Todd issued a statement this week in Parliament noting that the SNP did not have the support it needed to pass the plans into law but assured that the government is still committed to creating a National Care Service but would need to “secure a different means to deliver our goals”.
The National Care Service was a prominent part of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy as she declared it the most ambitious reform since devolution when it was first announced in 2021. Originally, the service would take social care responsibilities and staff from local authorities and place it into a new national agency, inspired by the NHS.
These plans were then diluted to creating a national care board to supervise service delivery from local authorities. It was hoped this would improve consistency in service across the country, eliminating the “postcode lottery” around health.
Affordability of the plans were pulled into question by opposition parties while some health boards and care organisations shared their own serious concerns about the plans. Last year, health secretary Neil Gray insisted that the plans had been "delayed, not scrapped".
Elsewhere in the Bill, one aspect still intact is a strengthening of rights of people living in care homes, also known as Anne’s law. This will allow care home residents to receive certain visitors even in restricted measures, named after Anne Duke who was cut off from her family whilst battling early-onset dementia amid the pandemic before her death in 2021.
Also still in the Bill is a proposed national social work agency to provide a national standard for this area of care. Unpaid carers’ rights to breaks and new rules for sharing information with the health and social care system will be kept in the Bill.