SNP ministers condemned over social care crisis talks

The Herald Scotland

6 hours ago

It comes as The Herald revealed 240 third sector organisations signed an open letter to First Minister John Swinney, warning the state of social care was at an 'apocalyptic' stage.
The letter warned 61% of social care charities providing health and social care in Scotland are at risk of imminent closure.
Dr Macaskill has echoed these concerns in an exclusive interview and said the industry is 'sick and tired' of being the 'Cinderella' service compared to the NHS.
He warned that vulnerable service users are waiting up to 16 weeks for a crucial social care package, compared to the target four to six weeks.
'There are, and there will be, people who die whilst they are waiting for a social care package, but because they are not queued up inside an NHS hospital, nobody notices that,' Dr Macaskill warned in an exclusive interview with The Herald.
Social care providers – including charities, local government and independent services – cannot afford to meet the rising demand for support and are equally struggling to retain staff.
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Charities are paid by the Scottish Government and local authorities to provide care, but the funds are either extremely delayed or tight due to budget cuts.
Publications by the Scottish Government earlier this year focused on early intervention and prevention in the NHS, and while these were welcome, Dr Macaskill described them as 'hugely problematic' for failing to put social care at the front and centre.
During a Scottish Care executive meeting this week, he said organisations 'one after another were all saying 'we've never seen it as bad as this and the government has to stop talking and start acting''.
Dr Macaskill has warned Health Secretary Neil Gray investment in social care partnerships must be 'immediate' to stop the system collapsing.
However, he said: 'What we're seeing at the moment is an absolute paralysis of response from government and it is making people feel really upset and frustrated both in terms of seeing people not getting the support they desperately need and also losing staff.
Health Secretary Neil Gray has been told urgent action is needed. (Image: PA) 'The Scottish Government can't control decisions by the Home Office and the Chancellor's decision to increase national insurance, but they could do a lot more with the resources they have available to meet social care needs and stop being obsessed with things such as delayed discharge.
'Social care is sick and tired of the NHS always being the priority and social care being an afterthought.'
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The social care expert has said he has waited 'weeks and weeks and weeks' to get a response from government officials, adding: 'It seems to us in social care that the government went on holiday, and is still on holiday, while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet.
'Social care has been the Cinderella service [to the NHS]. The problem is that because a lot of social care is hidden and not seen then you don't necessarily recognise just how critical it is.
'But there are twice as many people in a care home tonight as there will be in an NHS hospital, and five as many receiving care in their own home.
'If these services disappear overnight then we wouldn't have a system to cope with the demands in the NHS because people are being kept out of hospital by social care, and they're able to live independent fulfilling lives.'
Concerns around the sustainability of social care are not new, with a report by Audit Scotland in March warning the sector's finances were 'increasingly precarious', with a funding gap of almost half a billion pounds in 2024-25.
In January, the Scottish Government scrapped plans for its flagship National Care Service plan, which would have centralised social care under the control of a new national agency.
It has instead been significantly scaled back, with plans to set up a non-statutory advisory board underway.
The Scottish Government has been asked for comment.