PRESS RELEASE : Scottish Conservatives hold vote on ‘reckless’ SNP National Care Service [November 2022]
The press release issued on 2 November 2022 by the Scottish Conservative Party.
The SNP have today voted against keeping care local in a debate over ‘reckless’ plans for a ‘National Care Service’.
The debate was brought forward by Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy, after a wave of recent criticism for the £1.3 billion-plus centralisation project.
Councils, charities and care providers are worried that the SNP’s costly plans will do more harm than good. And even some of the SNP’s own MSPs have raised their heads above the parapet to express concerns over how the SNP Government will fund the NCS.
Meanwhile the government’s finance watchdog, Audit Scotland, is warning that the already eye-watering predicted costs of £1.3 billon are likely to be an underestimate.
Humza Yousaf continues to sail towards the iceberg – having already done his best to sink our National Health Service.
Under Humza Yousaf, our NHS and social care systems are already in crisis.
Yet instead of taking concrete measures to properly fund and improve social care at the local level, the SNP want to embark on a massive restructuring which will divert funds away from frontline care and into the pockets of civil servants and administrators.
Despite all these warnings, Humza Yousaf continues to sail towards the iceberg – having already done his best to sink our National Health Service.
But there’s still time to avert disaster.
The SNP may have ignored the Scottish Conservatives’ common-sense calls, but they must not proceed with these vague, reckless and largely uncosted plans for a National Care Service.
The SNP should U-turn on their plans and put every penny back into local care services instead.
We want to see a Local Care Service that empowers communities, underpinned by a guarantee that people can get care in their local area, close to their family and support networks, instead of the cruel ‘out of area’ care that may become more common under this centralised system.
If the SNP go ahead with their wasteful plans, it will be overstretched care workers, vulnerable patients and their families who suffer.
