SNP has spent £28 million of taxpayers’ money on achieving the square root of nothing at all

The SNP's collapsed National Care Service plan is a national embarrassment

News that the Scottish Government has scrapped the National Care Service may create a sense of déjà vu. Didn’t we know this already? However, even deciding not to do something seems to take the SNP an inordinately long time.

In October, when John Swinney was continuing to insist the National Care Service would go ahead, The Scotsman warned he would regret this £2 billion gamble. Later that month, as Health Secretary Neil Gray insisted they would “complete the job”, we argued that ministers should accept the costs were too high.

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In November, when the plan was officially put on hold in the face of widespread opposition, it was clear the idea was stone dead but the SNP continued to insist it might yet happen.

Now, two months later, the whole sorry saga has effectively come to an end, although only after ministers spent a total of more than £28 million of taxpayers’ money on achieving the square root of absolutely nothing at all.

There is a pressing need to improve care services (Picture: Matt Cardy)There is a pressing need to improve care services (Picture: Matt Cardy)
There is a pressing need to improve care services (Picture: Matt Cardy) | Getty Images

A tragedy

It was a grand plan that, trading on the reputation of the NHS, made positive headlines for the SNP when announced. It suggested this government had the ambition and drive of the 1945 Attlee government which established the health service.

The tragedy is that a National Care Service perhaps could have worked if ministers had listened to the main stakeholders, chiefly the care sector, councils and unions, and got them onside. It could have achieved economies of scale that enabled more to be spent on the delivery of care to vulnerable people. Instead, £28m that could have paid for scores of care workers has gone down the drain.

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Seemingly desperate to salvage something from the mess, ministers will set up a non-statutory National Care Service “advisory board”. We await with interest to see how effective or otherwise this will be.

Dualling the A9, the deposit return recycling scheme, highly protected marine areas, gender recognition reform, and now the National Care Service – the list of things the SNP say they are going to do and then don’t is a national embarrassment. A government that can’t deliver its own agenda is no government at all.

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