Closer ties between NHS and social work as free care costs rise soar

Health and social care services in Scotland will work closer together as the country faces soaring bills to look after its ageing population, the Scottish Government is expected to announce today.

Ministers have said that while they remain committed to providing free personal care for the elderly, the ways in which older people's care is delivered must change significantly over the next two decades.

Public health minister Shona Robison will today visit the Strathbrock Partnership Centre in Broxburn, West Lothian, to meet NHS and social work staff based at the centre, which houses both health and social care services alongside other facilities.

While the plans will see greater co-operation between health and social care services, it is expected to fall short of Scottish Labour's plans for a merged National Care Service.

The party's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie accused ministers of tinkering with the system rather than making more radical changes.

Last year the Scottish Government said that if current models of care are sustained, the present care budget of 4.5 billion will need to rise by 1.1bn by 2016 and 3.5bn by 2031.

Ms Robison said dealing with the growing number of older people was one of "our biggest national challenges" and "radical" action was needed.

Part of that radical action will see health and social care services working more closely, to help avoid problems such as bed-blocking - where people are kept in hospital even when they are ready to leave because care elsewhere has not been arranged.

Ms Robison said as the older population was likely to increase by around two-thirds in the next two decades, as a country there was a need to change the ways in which care was delivered.

But there are fears that without more radical action, health and social care services will not be able to cope.

Last year Scottish Labour said a National Care Service would help the elderly remain at home longer.

The creation of the service would see the merger of health and social care into one organisation dedicated to ensuring a consistent approach to caring for the elderly across Scotland.

Ms Baillie said: "Social care budgets have been cut by 400 million under the SNP, and as a result we are seeing patient care suffering and the return of bed-blocking to our hospitals.

"This is bad for patients and bad for the taxpayer, as a hospital bed is much more expensive than the cost of sustaining people in their own homes.

"Instead of tinkering with existing arrangements, ministers should engage with Labour's ambitious plans for a new National Care Service, which will make a positive difference to the lives of elderly Scots."