West Lothian’s council leader has called on the Scottish Government to cancel its plans for a National Care Service and instead use the money spent on "exorbitant" consultancy fees to fund care of the elderly.
Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick said "repeated underfunding" of care by the government have left the council faced with having to close a number of care homes.
And councillors backed a call for the money being used to explore the controversial idea of a national care service to instead be used for local service.
READ MORE: West Lothian schools boosted by £60m contribution from housebuilders
They also called for Holyrood to restore Covid pandemic funding to all Integration Joint Boards (IJB) which oversee care home provision.
Proposals for care at home provision are set to go before the next meeting of the IJB at the end of June. They are part of a wider package aimed at cutting costs to meet budget shortfalls West Lothian's IJB faces.
There has been a vociferous campaign by unions which say that the IJB and council aim to close the four council run care homes in West Lothian as part of plans to privatise care of the elderly completely.
Full privatisation would have a knock on effect on staff conditions and wages.
Speaking at the council’s Executive this week Councillor Fitzpatrick said: “ I agree with local Constituency and Regional MSPs including a serving Cabinet Secretary in their open letter this week that the Scottish Government should allow IJBs to retain their Covid recovery monies. Sadly I and my Labour colleagues previous requests for Covid recovery monies to be retained by IJBs has been refused by the Scottish Government.
“It is the case that issues such as the re-provisioning of council run care homes by the IJB is only being considered due to the repeated underfunding of public services in Scotland.
“I am calling on the Scottish Government to scrap the National Care Service and I stand ready to meet with the Scottish Government to put forward the case for improved funding for West Lothian.”
The Scottish Government initially said a National Care Service could cost up to £500 million to deliver. In October last year however, Scottish Parliament researchers estimated the bill over five years could be between £664m and £1.261 billion.
And consultancy fees for the proposals have already reportedly topped £2.2m
West Lothian Labour’s motion said: “Council Executive agrees that the exorbitant sums of consultancy fees for National Care Service proposals and the anticipated set up costs could be better spent fully meeting the current demands for care provision in our local communities and on improving a set of national standards to cover both public and private providers of care.”
It added: “Council Executive agrees that the exorbitant sums of consultancy fees for National Care Service proposals and the anticipated set up costs could be better spent fully meeting the current demands for care provision in our local communities and on improving a set of national standards to cover both public and private providers of care."
During the lengthy debate Councillor Janet Campbell, the SNP group leader, raised questions about private care provision and its regulation in the county.
Jo McPherson, the council’s chief social worker said: “We have a long history of working in partnership with the independent sector in West Lothian in relation to the provision of care homes.
“Over 83 per cent of care home places are provided by the independent sector. We work in close collaboration and we manage any risks that do arise and we have done so for some time so we would continue to manage risks if there was any change to that balance of change.”
She added that all care homes were subjected to the same vigorous regime of standards by the Care Inspectorate as council managed homes are.
Councillor Campbell asked: “Should a private provider fail would we as a local authority be able to step in to ensure that vulnerable people would not be left without care?”
Mrs McPherson said: “ If we were to encounter such a scenario we would require to do that. We would not be able to leave a care home without being appropriately staffed and provided for. We have managed risks over the covid period that covered that very risk."
The SNP also raised an amendment calling on the IJB and council to maintain long stay hospitals and care homes in the county.
It said hospitals such as St Michael’s in Linlithgow were being excluded for the discussion of future care and the group called for up to date figures on the growing population as demand for elderly care grows with those expanding populations in the east of the county.
The amendment raised by Linlithgow Councillor Pauline Orr added: “This paper is being presented with no evidence about hospital-based provision.” and she claimed Labour, Conservatives and the IJB had already decided to exclude hospitals from long term plans on hospital care of the elderly.
She warned the council and IJB to take heed of the issues exposed by the move to privatise care homes in Edinburgh.
READ NEXT:
West Lothian town rejects plans for 160 more homes on its greenbelt
West Lothian heart attack survivor in emotional plea to save pool
'Lifeline' funding for West Lothian theatre facing threat of closure
West Lothian school dates for next year, including Christmas holidays, announced
West Lothian school faces £30m rebuild to tackle crumbling concrete
