SNP must listen to Lib Dem social care plans amid rising older population

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today called on SNP ministers to ease the crisis in social care and listen to his party’s plans for action after data from the most recent census publication showed that over 65s are now more than a fifth of the population in many areas across Scotland.

The latest data from Scotland’s census revealed that there are more people in the older age groups than ever before. 

The proportion of the population aged 65 or over is:

• 27.2% in Argyll & Bute;
• 27.1% in Dumfries & Galloway;
• 26.3% in Scottish Borders;
• 25.1% in Angus;
• 24.9% in Perth & Kinross;
• 23.7% in Highland;
• 21.8% in Shetland.

In July, the Accounts Commission published a report which warned that community health and social care faces rising unmet need, with funding for services decreasing in real terms, vacancies at a record high and a quarter of staff leaving their jobs within the first three months.  

The number of people stuck in hospital and unable to return home reached a record high in June, as 1,991 experienced a delayed discharge. One of the key reasons for these delays is a lack of availability of care at home or in the community.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“An increasing number of older people means a greater demand for social care services, but those services are in turmoil after years of SNP mismanagement of our health service.  

“If nothing is done, we will see more and more people denied the care they need and ever greater strains on our hospitals and A&E departments.

“The SNP’s proposed centralisation of social care is a complete white elephant. Giving ministers the power over care services rather than local authorities will do nothing to ease pressures and tackle shortages. These plans must be scrapped and the money earmarked for this billion-pound bureaucratic takeover spent on frontline services and staff instead.

“Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats have a plan to fix the crisis in social care. We want to see a £500m rescue package that will enable people to be released from hospital, get the care they need and relieve pressure across the NHS. We would also create a new minimum wage for care workers, £2 higher than the national minimum wage, to tackle the chronic staff shortages, making social care a profession of choice again.”