26 April 2011
The bitter war of words between local government and Scottish Parliament leaders about public finance reform has escalated sharply over plans to merge social care with health provision.
The Holyrood election campaign enters its final phase with Labour, the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party all committed to combining social care – a municipal responsibility – with health. Labour favours a new National Care Service, the Tories merged budgets, and the SNP a lead commissioning model.
But the plans have angered the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which has grown increasingly aggrieved over what it sees as the readiness of party leaders to finance election promises by looting local government prerogatives and functions.
Launching a Cosla analysis of the plans, health and wellbeing spokesman Douglas Yates claimed that transferring social care would cost more than £300m in upheaval to staff, property, IT and ‘massive’ legal red tape.
‘In anyone’s book, £300m to change the badge on a social care worker’s shirt is not a good use of public money,’ he said. ‘There are huge challenges that we need to address but the national parties’ plans to move social care into the NHS are an expensive distraction designed to gain short-term electoral advantage.’
Cosla’s figure is based on costs inherent in transferring 38,500 staff out of council employment. The paper equates it with 25 million hours of home care, almost a million respite weeks, 15 new community hospitals and 85 million meals on wheels.
But political leaders dismissed the criticisms. They see the planned reform as virtuous on several levels – as an example of joined-up services, an alternative to silo budgeting and a counter to ‘postcode lottery’ variations in service quality.
Labour’s health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie, said reform would stop older people falling between the two systems, while the Tories’ Murdo Fraser said it would counter a worrying rise in delayed discharges, more commonly called bed-blocking.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison said the SNP’s lead commissioning model would avoid many of the pitfalls identified by Cosla.
Polls show a widening lead for the SNP ahead of the May 5 election. But it is clear that whoever takes office will have relations to repair with local government, which has been infuriated by promises to reduce local control over police and fire services and by a Dutch auction of pledges to freeze council tax.
