A growing number of MSPs are calling for a national care service modelled on the NHS in response to the covid-19 crisis.

They include former cabinet secretary Angela Constance, who criticised “profiteering” by private care homes and called for a national care service “on a par” with the NHS.

The SNP MSP, who was cabinet secretary for communities, social security and equalities until 2018, claimed the Scottish Government had stepped in to “pick up the pieces” where private care home operators had failed.

Speaking during a debate on covid-19 and restarting the NHS in Holyrood yesterday, she revealed she had written to the health secretary calling for an investigation into differential death rates in public and private care institutions.

Also voicing support for such a change was Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnstone, who said a national health and care service was needed to end a “postcode lottery” of support for older people.

Labour’s Neil Findlay said the pandemic had exacerbated Scotland’s “broken care system” that was characterised by recruitment issues, low pay, exploitation, and insecure work.

He called for social care in Scotland to be “knocked down” and “rebuilt from the ground up”.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has previously backed a review of the mixed model of social care that sees private, not for profit and council-run bodies all provide support.

The Scottish Government also moved to intervene in the running of care homes last month.

There is no agreed model of what a national care service would look like but it is generally thought to mean most care would be provided by the public sector. Currently just under nine in ten care home beds are provided by private and non-profit operators.

Critics say moving to a single national provider would take away people’s choice about how they want to be supported in their later years.

Scottish Government figures show 38% of voluntary and not for profit care homes have had a suspected covid-19 case, rising to 57% for publicly-run homes and 69% for private institutions.

Speaking in Holyrood yesterday, Ms Constance said: “This pandemic has shone a light on serious concerns about some private care homes and I would not want to tar all private providers with the same brush.

“But we need to be clear that profiteering at the expense of care cannot and must not be tolerated and my concern is that millions of pounds of public money is taken from the care sector into the financial sector.”

Statistics show larger care homes are much more likely to be hit by covid – 91% with more than 60 residents have recorded at least one case, compared to just 17% in homes with 10 beds or fewer.

“Going forward it is imperative that we examine which sector prefers large care homes and why, as well as the need for transparency about the tragic loss of life in care homes sector by sector,” Ms Constance said. 

“There are also massive questions to be asked about the role, remit and powers afforded to registration and inspection services.”

 

Sign up to our bulletin sent twice a week so you don’t miss out on the latest health and social care news.