Russell Findlay made his Holyrood debut as Scottish Tory leader yesterday with a blistering attack on the SNP’s ‘ flawed’ social care plans.
The new Holyrood opposition boss told John Swinney to take a ‘reality check’ and dump the stalled National Care Service.
Ministers must use ‘common sense’ and put hundreds of millions earmarked for the quango directly into frontline services instead, he said.
Nicola Sturgeon launched the flagship project in 2021, boasting it was ‘arguably the most significant public service reform’ since the creation of the NHS in 1948.
The aim was to end the ‘postcode lottery’ in community health and social care with consistent high standards Scotland-wide.
Russell Findlay made his debut at Holyrood as Scottish Conservative leader
But the scheme rapidly went wrong as costs soared and councils and unions fought SNP attempts to centralise ever more services.
Last week, the council body Cosla dealt the NCS a potentially fatal blow by withdrawing support.
With unions also refusing to cooperate, the Government is isolated, yet insists the service is still on course to start in 2029.
Mr Findlay said £28 million had been ‘wasted’ drawing up plans for the NCS.
‘Four parliamentary committees have warned about its flaws, NHS bosses have serious concerns and Scotland’s council leaders and unions have pulled their support.
‘So why is the First Minister pushing ahead with a plan that no one seems to want?’
Mr Swinney said it would ensure everyone getting social care received the ‘highest-quality support’.
Mr Findlay reminded him record numbers of ‘delayed discharge’ patients were currently unable to leave hospital, largely because of a lack of social care.
‘One in five care homes has closed in the past decade and the NHS is paying the price, with almost 2,000 people trapped in hospitals,’ he said.
‘Scotland’s care sector is collapsing today. People need action today.
‘Every penny should be spent helping them today, rather than wasting years on yet another SNP pet project that is doomed to failure. Why can the First Minister not see that?’
Mr Swinney said he was ‘very concerned’ by the scale of bed-blocking, and revealed the level was 10 times higher in the worst council than in the best.
‘That is unfair, it must be addressed and that is what a national care service will deliver.’
The Tory leader said the FM’s own figures proved it was a ‘today problem’.
He said: ‘It is classic SNP – wasting time and money and neglecting what people really need.
‘Government ministers are yet again grabbing power from local communities.’
It summed up what was wrong with politics in Scotland, he said.
He added: ‘There are plans for a national care service that are costing a fortune but not caring for anyone, just like ferries that do not carry passengers and prisons that free criminals early.
‘This Government needs a reality check. It has become disconnected from the people that it is supposed to represent.
‘Surely it is basic common sense to ditch the SNP’s national care service plan and just put the money directly into front-line care.’
Mr Swinney said his government was investing in care and attacked Mr Findlay for backing Liz Truss to become Prime Minister in 2022.
Mr Findlay was less than impressed with the First Minister’s answers
He struggled to be heard as Tory MSPs reminded him of his support for Alex Salmond.
Where Mr Findlay led, Anas Sarwar followed.
Despite SNP vowing to end the problem in 2015, the 2,000 patients now stuck on wards was equivalent to ‘every bed in NHS Lothian or every bed in Ninewells, Raigmore, Wishaw and Inverclyde hospitals combined’.
Meanwhile, the SNP’s plans for a national care service were an unwanted ‘absolute disaster’ and would waste money without addressing delayed discharge.
The Scottish Labour leader said he wanted a ‘proper’ care service ‘but no good idea ever survives the incompetence of the Government’.
He urged the FM to ditch his ‘costly and unworkable’ scheme and produce a credible alternative to ‘fix the crisis’ in the NHS his government created.
‘The SNP’s plans could now cost £2.2 billion. Surely, that money should be spent on care packages, additional workers, better pay and conditions and reducing delayed discharge?’
Mr Swinney said social care spending was up 25 per cent, and blamed ‘rising demand’ for care for delayed discharge being ‘so high’.
