Money earmarked for creating a new National Care Service in Scotland should instead be used to pay care staff more, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will demand.
The Lib Dem MSP will repeat calls for the planned National Care Service to be scrapped, suggesting the funds set aside for this should be used to make social care a “profession of choice”.
It comes as the Liberal Democrats called for a higher minimum wage for all carers across he UK – with the party arguing this could ease some of the pressure on the NHS.
In a speech to the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Hamilton on Sunday, Mr Cole-Hamilton will say his party would “scrap the ministerial takeover of social care and dedicate the billions it would cost into making social care a profession of choice”.
His comments will come in a speech which will warn that that health services across the country are now “on the line”.
He will state: “Make no mistake, our National Health Service is on the line. If the SNP can’t see that, or refuse to deal with it, they need to make way for somebody who will.”
The Liberal Democrat leader will go on to say that while Scotland is “blessed with some of the finest clinicians in the world” it is “self-evident” that “there is a crisis in our NHS”.
Speaking out about issues in the NHS, Mr Cole-Hamilton will tell party supporters: “There was a time you could see your GP at the first time of asking. But that’s almost unheard of now.
“I met someone in Caithness at the weekend who rang their surgery 200 times when the phonelines opened at 8.30 last Thursday, before she eventually got through. Two hundred times. She was offered an appointment for the end of the month.
“Her story is not unique. It’s happening everywhere.
“New parents being told that they could only get an appointment for their sick baby if it was urgent, otherwise they have to wait two weeks.
“And it’s the same with NHS dentistry. It’s been left to rot.”
He will say this has left Scots resorting to ordering dentistry tools online “to do the job themselves”, adding that others have flown to “war-torn Ukraine” for dental treatment.
“It says everything about the state of NHS dentistry that someone has to brave the drones and cruise missiles of downtown Kyiv for basic dental care,” he will say.
Mr Cole-Hamilton will make clear that “none of this is the fault of our hard-working staff”, saying instead Scotland needs a government that will “get the basics right”.
He will say: “Scottish Liberal Democrats will create world-class mental health services by taxing the social media giants who cause so much of the problem.
“That’ll help get you faster access to your GP.
“We’ll make sure everyone can see an NHS dentist by overhauling the failed recovery plan and making it easier for qualified foreign dentists to practice here.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is committed to supporting our health and social care service. This is why we are investing more than £19.5 billion in health and social care services, with NHS staffing levels at a record high.
“As part of this investment, we are providing over £2.1 billion for primary care and over £1.3 billion for mental health services, with £290.2 million direct investment – more than doubled since 2020/21. An additional, £250 million in funding over the life of this parliament to address the drugs death emergency, and over £14.2 billion investment in our NHS Boards with additional investment over half a billion – an almost 3% real terms uplift.
“In addition, we are providing investment of £230 million to local government to support delivery of the pay uplift to a minimum of £12 per hour for adult social care workers in third and private sectors.
“From last month, adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services saw their pay increase to a minimum of £12 per hour – for a full-time adult social care worker, based on 37.5 hours a week, the increase represents an uplift of over £2,000 over the course of the financial year. In 2024-25, we are providing £22 million to councils to address the shortage of social work staff in adult services.”
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