National Care Service timescale ‘frighteningly difficult’

Ambitious plans for a National Care Service will be hugely challenging to deliver on time, sector experts say.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf last week unveiled proposals to transform social care by 2026. The initiative – expected to cost £1.3 billion – aims to overhaul adult social care in Scotland and create a smooth transition between services. A social care charter of rights and responsibilities is being drawn up along with better visiting rights for residents in adult care homes.

However, Lynn Sheridan, lecturer in social work at Glasgow’s Caledonian University said that details of the new service were “woolly”.

She said industry experts felt the bill fell short on detail, particularly around how social care services currently delivered by local authorities would be transferred to a series of care boards that operate in the same way as health boards, with Scottish ministers directly responsible.

“These plans will be frighteningly difficult to do in the space of four years,” said Sheridan. “There are a lot of unanswered questions, such as how will tens of thousands of jobs be transferred and, as local authorities own most buildings used for social care, how will these be transferred over.

She added: “Care workers say they fear local knowledge will be lost. We need to see a lot more detail about how a service of this magnitude would actually work in practice. It’s very woolly.”

Fanchea Kelly, chief executive of nationwide specialist homes and care provider Blackwood, said if government were to reach its targets by 2026 it would have to start demonstrating that commitment now. “We welcome the creation of the NCS,” she told The Sunday Post, “but the groundwork at community level has to be laid now, to demonstrate how this will work.

Unite described the plans as “an all-out assault on local democracy”. GMB Scotland said workers “haven’t even been an afterthought”.

Age Scotland backed the creation of the NCS but was concerned it could become mired in red tape. Adam Stachura, NCS head of policy, said: “What we don’t want is the creation of a massive bureaucracy that uses up significant public funds that could have been spent on care.”

The Scottish Government last night said final decisions on the structure of the NCS would be made by ministers during the development phase. Minister for social care Kevin Stewart said: “Under the NCS, people will be supported to stay in their own homes and their own communities for longer, and support and prevention will be prioritised so people get the help they need before any problems escalate.”