Government scraps plan for National Care Service

The Scottish government has scrapped its flagship plan to create a National Care Service.

The reform, which had already been scaled back and delayed, was axed by Social Care Minister Maree Todd in a statement to parliament.

The government still intends to pass the National Care Service Bill, though it will be stripped of the fundamental pillar of a National Care Service.

Instead, it includes smaller reforms that have cross-party support.

Opposition parties accused the Scottish government of wasting time and money on the scheme.

Todd said the government remained committed to creating a National Care Service - but did not set out how the government would achieve this after scaling back its bill.

She noted that the SNP did not have the support it needed in parliament to pass its plans into law.

"I've concluded that we must deliver the Scottish National Care Service without legislating for structural reform, securing a different means to deliver our goals," the minister told MSPs.

She said that meant the government would remove part one of the bill, which included plans for a national care board, while continuing with parts two and three of the bill.

Instead, Todd intends to set up a non-statutory advisory board.

The minister said her announcement would be "a source of disappointment to many", particularly those with lived experience of the care system.

"I want to reassure those people that I remain committed to the ambitions of the National Care Service," she told parliament.

Todd said the government had made "significant improvements to social care during this parliament" and intended to continue this work.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the National Care Service as the most ambitious reform since devolution when it was announced in 2021.

The original plan, inspired by the NHS, was to take social care provision and staff away from local authorities into a new national agency.

That had already been dropped in favour of creating a national care board to supervise service delivery and improve consistency - but opposition MSPs said they could not support the bill unless it ditched that proposal as well.

Opposition parties repeatedly questioned whether the government could afford to set up and manage the service.

Council body Cosla and trade unions withdrew their support for the project, while a number of health boards and care organisations expressed serious concerns.

The Scottish Greens also dropped their backing in October last year, meaning the SNP no longer had enough support to get the measures through Holyrood.

Despite those setbacks, plans for a national oversight body had remained in the bill. MSPs had been due to consider potential amendments to the proposals in November.

Before that could happen, First Minister John Swinney announced more time was needed to consider views and "get the proposals right".

Health Secretary Neil Gray insisted at the time that the plans had been "delayed, not scrapped".

With the provision for a national oversight body now removed, the government has ended with any notion that the bill delivers a National Care Service.

Todd said the government would work to ensure other reforms which do retain support at Holyrood would be passed in the stripped down version of the bill.

Anne's Law, which would allow people in care homes to receive visits from a named loved one even in restricted measures, is expected to pass as part of the proposed legislation.

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 family has campaigned for a change in the law, which was put into national standards in March 2022.

A proposal for a national social work agency to provide a national standard for that area of care has also kept in the bill.

As has the right to breaks for unpaid carers and new rules on the sharing of information in the care system between health and social care.

SNP ministers said in October that almost £30m had been spent on plans for the care service.

Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Sandesh Gulhane said the money had been "wasted" on the scheme.

He said the government had "failed to listen to experts, trade unions and councils that this bill was fatally flawed".

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the process had been a "waste of time and money".

Scottish Green health spokesperson Gillian Mackay said the bill was "not fit for purpose".

She added: "I hope that this announcement will allow us to focus on the areas where there is a far greater consensus and where we can deliver real and positive change."

Age Scotland chief executive Katherine Crawford described the government's decision to "water down" its plans as "incredibly disappointing".

While she welcomed elements on care home visits and improving carers' rights, she said the bill in its current state would not fix the major issues with social care.

The UK government also says it has ambitions to set up a National Care Service.

However, a report on long-term funding arrangements for social care in England is not expected to be published until 2028.

Labour Health Secretary West Streeting has warned it will "take time" to "finally grasp the nettle on social care reform".

A casual observer might have been a bit confused by today's statement at Holyrood.

The government came out to declare that it remained committed to creating a National Care Service, and is still pressing a bill through parliament.

But let's be crystal clear: it's been scrapped.

Yes, a bill bearing its name will someday pass, but care minister Maree Todd has agreed to remove part one – the part literally titled "the National Care Service".

The vision originally set out by Nicola Sturgeon – of a game-changing network of care boards across the country, a mirror for the NHS – is completely gone.

It had already been hugely diluted, stripped back to a national oversight board, amid concerns over costs and a lack of detail in the plans.

All that's left now is a non-statutory advisory board, and widely-supported proposals to strengthen the rights of care home residents.

This is not a National Care Service as it has ever been promised.

The government is actually quite keen to lean on the fact there is no parliamentary support for the plans, because it spreads the blame around a bit.

But it has been clear for some time that the plans could never become a reality, because they had lost the support of councils, staff unions and essentially all of the key groups involved in actually delivering care on the front lines.