“Added level of bureaucracy”: Yet more opposition to SNP’s care service takeover

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today responded to the GMB’s decision to oppose the SNP’s centralised takeover of care services, urging ministers to scrap their plans and focus on supporting frontline staff and users instead.

Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland Programme earlier today, Keir Greenaway, the GMB’s senior organiser in Scotland, explained why almost 80% of GMB members had voted against the Scottish Government’s proposed centralisation of the care sector. Mr Greenaway stated that the SNP’s plans represent “an added level of bureaucracy” and “won’t be able to deliver real change in the sector.”

Minister for Social Care, Maree Todd, also appeared on the programme to discuss the government’s plans. She admitted that the process “had been slow” and that delivery “is going to take a number of years.”

Commenting on the latest developments, Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“There is now a mountain of opposition to this white elephant of a ministerial takeover. The SNP government should do the right thing and scrap it immediately.

“Even the minister overseeing these ill-fated plans has admitted they would take years to come about. When they do, they will completely fail to tackle core problems. Instead, they would see decisions about care in the highlands and islands taken by a distant minister in Edinburgh.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats would devote the money from this vast billion-pound bureaucracy to frontline services and staff. We want to create a new minimum wage for care workers to tackle chronic staff shortages, get people the care they need and relieve pressures right across the NHS.”