COSLA’s Health and Social Care Spokesperson, Councillor Stuart Currie, responded today (Thursday) to the Audit Scotland report on social care:

‘The Audit Scotland report sets out many of the challenges that Local Government has consistently highlighted for many years now. There is an urgent need to address these challenges – many of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic – by working with our partners across Scottish Government, in the third and independent sector, and most importantly, people with lived experience.  We agree with Audit Scotland  that Social Care reform cannot wait for a National Care Service to be implemented. Local authorities are central to delivering the right care at the right time in the right place.

Local Government recognises that we cannot stand still if we want to create meaningful change for our communities. We continue to work with Scottish Government to progress our shared commitments outlined in our Joint Statement of Intent so that we can now begin to implement much of the reform that was called for in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care. Fundamental to these shared commitments is a recognition that through empowering people, valuing our workforce and embedding a human rights-based approach in social care, we can begin to deliver real solutions for our local communities, unpaid carers, and our workforce.’