LibDems Set to Force vote on Abandoning SNP’s National Care Service Plan

MINISTERS are being urged to “change course” and abandon plans to create a new National Care Service for Scotland, with the Liberal Democrats set to force a vote on the plans.

The proposed National Care Service would bring adult social care, and possibly other areas such as children’s and drug and alcohol services under one national body, set up in a similar way to the NHS.

However, concerns have been raised by opposition parties, trade unions, local authority leaders concerning a lack of clarity in the legislation, with the new service to be established using a “co-design” process once the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill is passed.

Responding to the findings of the Scottish Parliament’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee that the National Care Service Bill could set “a dangerous precedent”, risks “undermining the role of Parliament” and “letting down” those it’s supposed to help, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said: “The Scottish Government must withdraw this legislation immediately and recognise that they have got this wrong. It is nothing short of a ministerial power grab of social care.

“To address the systemic problems with social care, Scottish Liberal Democrats believe we need national standards and entitlements to drive up the quality of care and to reward staff with better pay and conditions.

“This billion-pound bureaucracy is the last thing we need. The money must be moved instead to frontline services and staff who are firefighting on every shift.”