Council / Parts of national care plan could be good for isles, council official claims
- Unpopular National Care Service (NCS) has ‘really positive’ aspects
- SIC receives positive Audit Scotland report
- Flea calls for reliance on council reserves to end
THERE is “a lot that could be really positive” about much-maligned plans to transform the Scottish care service, according to a senior council official.
The National Care Service (NCS), proposed by the SNP government, has been an unpopular suggestion locally – with Shetland Islands Council currently running the majority of the isles’ care homes.
Under the national plans, however, the isles’ care homes would be taken under a national framework.
That has led to concerns about a “one size fits all” approach not suiting Shetland, with local care homes considered to be running well.
The NCS is currently in limbo, with the Scottish Green’s recently announcing they would withdraw their support for it.
Councillor Stephen Leask said on Thursday he believed the SNP “probably wouldn’t get it over the line” and he was hoping it would be “shelved”.
However Christine Ferguson, Shetland Islands Council’s (SIC) corporate services director, said the Scottish Government had recently confirmed that it “remained committed” to the NCS.
She said Shetland’s care homes already operate at a high standard, with a “high level of service”.
But she said she felt there was a lot that the Scottish Government was suggesting in terms of care reform “that could be really positive” for the isles.
Ferguson added Shetland should welcome “anything that helps us maintain a high standard of care”.
She said, however, that they did not want any Scottish Government care reform to be a “postcode lottery”.
It came during today’s (Thursday) audit committee meeting, where members heard a positive report from Audit Scotland about the SIC’s 2023/24 accounts.
Councillor Moraig Lyall noted the report found care homes in Shetland face “significant challenges” in how they are operated – and asked how and why that had happened.
Ferguson said what had changed “dramatically” over the years was the level of care that these facilities were providing to people, and the number of people using them.
She explained that they were previously “very much respite facilities”, with elderly people living at home and spending the end of their lives in hospital.
However, Ferguson said people were now spending “an average of nine years” in a care home at the end of their lives.
Shetland Central councillor Catherine Hughson said she felt funding for care homes had also been reduced over time, even while they took after more and more people.
Hughson said this was “unfair”, and “didn’t reflect the level of need”.
Leask asked if the end of the NCS was “something that was going to affect us”, or if it was something the council could “take off the risk register”.
Ferguson insisted the Scottish Government remained committed to the NCS at present.
Later in the meeting Leask said he felt the NCS was still “wrong” for Shetland, adding: “Let’s hope that gets shelved”.
Overall councillors were pleased with the audit report from Audit Scotland, with Leask saying it was “a better audit than the Scottish Government” were given recently.
Audit committee chairman Allison Duncan said that “more work is still required” though, and that “difficult challenges lie ahead”.
“We’re in a sound financial position compared with other local authorities,” he said.
“However this council continues to rely on reserves to balance the budget. This continuing situation is unsustainable.
“I would encourage members and officers to work together to resolve this issue.”
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