Holyrood proposals for a National Care Service risk fragmenting care provision and will take decisions on finance and planning away from local people, West Lothian Council has said.
The council’s Executive echoed many of the concerns already highlighted by West Lothian’s Integrated Joint Board on health care in its response to the Scottish Government's plans to create a National Care Service.
But in recent stormy debates opposition SNP members accused the ruling Labour minority of lacking vision and protecting the status quo by refusing to engage in meaningful discussion on change.
A Labour motion to accept council officers’ recommendations in answer to the consultation easily defeated an amendment proposed this week by SNP depute group leader, Councillor Frank Anderson.
In her nine page summary of the more than 200 pages of the consultation questions and proposals, Depute Chief Executive Alison White detailed the major concerns raised over the proposal including local accountability and management of services.
It concluded: “The consultation also does not contain any meaningful financial information. This lack of information on likely costs, funding required and potential sources of funding, compromises the consultation and may be setting unrealistic expectations.”
Councillor Anderson’s amendment said: “Council resolves to write to the Scottish Government welcoming these radical proposals contained within the consultation but asking for reassurances around the costs, financing and the employment rights of current staff.”
And he challenged councillors saying the National Care Service had long been a Labour proposal. The NCS proposals were a starting point to develop a new service in the way the NHS had been developed as it had grown.
“If not now, when? If not us, who? If not this way, what way?” he asked the meeting of the Executive.
Labour’s Tom Conn said the present proposals, suggesting 33 new Health and Social Care Boards to manage the new service amounted to “empire building by the SNP” government.
Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan said the plan “very clearly” undermined local democracy by centralising financial and staffing decisions.
She also highlighted concerns of fragmenting services removing some services such as child care which are at present council responsibilities and which link to other council services including housing and education.
She pointed out that the lead councillor in COSLA’s response to the consultation was also an SNP councillor, and he shared the reservations of others across the political spectrum about the proposals.
