MSPs to vote on scaled-back social care reforms

Yahoo

4 hours ago

It started life with a promise from Nicola Sturgeon that it would be most ambitious reform of the devolution era.
But when MSPs vote on the final stage of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill later, the proposals in front of them will be a shadow of what the former first minister pledged in 2021.
At the heart of the revamp of social care services was meant to be a National Care Service - but this was dropped by SNP ministers following widespread opposition to how the shake-up would have worked in practice.
However, the planned law to enable this flagship change has lived on and will now deliver changes to social care procurement, family care home visits and a new right to breaks for unpaid carers.
When it became clear the National Care Service was not going ahead, the Scottish government was left with a Bill it was trying to get passed that was carrying the same name as its defunct policy.
This was solved by renaming it the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill and now the planned law focuses on a series of important, but less high-profile, changes to health and social care across the country.
One of the big changes planned under the new law is a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers.
This mean councils will have a duty to decide whether a carer is able to take sufficient breaks from their caring role.
If they are not, then the local authority will provide support to enable this, such as providing funding for short respite breaks.
This policy, given Scotland has around 700,000 unpaid carers, will cost between £196m and £315m by 2035/36, according to the Bill's financial memorandum.
However, it remains a fraction of the £13.9bn that unpaid care is currently saving Scotland every year.
Improvements to the way information is shared in health and social care - to make it less likely that people will have to repeat their information - as well changes to procurement rules in the sector are also planned.
Beefing up the powers that watchdogs can take against failing care providers is also part of the bill.
The most high-profile part of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill is Anne's Law, which allows people in care homes to receive visits from a named loved one even in restricted measures.
It is named after Anne Duke, who died aged 63 in November 2021 after being cut off from her family while battling early-onset dementia during the Covid pandemic.
Her daughter Natasha Hamilton started a petition about the issue at the height of the pandemic, which attracted nearly 100,000 signatures, and this led to a wider campaign about the rights of people in care homes.
"I find it sad that it gained that much traction, it showed it was just not me who was affected, but I felt like I had to do something," she explained.
"It was the most vulnerable point of my mum's life, she really needed her family and I still can't believe the separation that happened.
"But I'm proud that I did this for my mum and for everyone else who had to endure the torture of isolation during Covid."
Changes to ensure people living in care homes have the right to visits from a loved one were introduced by the Scottish government in 2022 via national standards for the sector.
If the bill is passed by MSPs, the right to have a designated visitor into care homes to support loved ones will become a legal right instead.
The original proposal for a National Care Service, inspired by the NHS, was to take social care provision and staff away from local authorities into a new national agency.
That was then dropped in favour of creating a national care board to supervise service delivery and improve consistency - but this failed to win over a growing number of critics.
Council body Cosla and trade unions then withdrew their support for the project, while a number of health boards and care organisations also expressed concerns.
The plan, which was also subject to a series of delays, was eventually scrapped in January after £30m was spent on the process.
Social Care Minister Maree Todd said at the time she was "still committed to the ambitions of the National Care Service" but added the SNP no longer had the support it needed in parliament to pass its original plans into law.
What is left of the plans today is the creation of a national care service advisory board on a non-statutory basis which will try and improve social care support services.
Government scraps plan for National Care Service
Why was Scotland's National Care Service scrapped?
Almost £30m already spent on National Care Service