Scottish Care welcomes the announcement in the Programme for Government that an Independent Review will be established to explore the options around the future of adult social care in Scotland, including exploring a national care service.
Scottish Care has long argued over many years and under successive administrations that adult social care needed urgent reform and resourcing. Such reform needs to be rooted in the individual human rights of citizens. It fundamentally needs to understand that social care is NOT the same as health care and therefore we cannot just copy the NHS and use it as a template. Critically social care involves life-long services and supports at the heart of which citizens must be able to have control and voice.
Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO of Scottish Care stated:
“It is sad that it has taken a global pandemic to highlight the faults in our social care system when those who provide and work in care have been talking about under-resourcing, lack of prioritisation and focus for many years.
Nevertheless, I am pleased to see the establishment of the Independent Review and the independent care sector looks forward to working with the Review group. Theirs is not an easy task. If we want to create a care service where people are treated equally, where regardless of your condition and life support needs you are able to get care free at the point of need, where workers are given terms and conditions which value their role then this will result in a massive fiscal outlay for all of society. It is right that we should have this debate and as a society consider the options which will lead us to having a high quality, rights based social care system.”
