Government urged to ‘rethink’ centralised care service proposals

The Scottish Government must “rethink” proposals for a National Care Service.

This is the call being made by Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, following extensive criticism over plans to centralise social care services.

Critiques over the proposal for a National Care Service have been levied by legal experts, health board leaders, council officials and finance professionals.

This includes comments made in a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s finance committee this Tuesday, in which Ralph Roberts, chairman of the NHS Board Chief Executives Group, said the money earmarked for the new care service would be better spent reinforcing the current system.

This warning was echoed by Audit Scotland’s Mark Taylor who also told MSPs that the costs set out by Scottish Ministers “significantly understate” the range of what could be needed.

Meanwhile, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has repeatedly dubbed the proposed National Care Service as an “attack on localism” — which Orkney Islands Council warned last year “could diminish, rather than enhance, the community, fiscal and functional empowerment that the Council seeks.”

More on this in next week’s edition of The Orcadian.