Commenting on the release of the responses to the Scottish Government’s National Care Service consultation today (Tuesday), COSLA’s Health and Social Care Spokesperson Cllr Stuart Currie said:

“The scale of the response to the consultation is further evidence of the value that people across Scotland place in our social care system and the strength of feeling that exists about the future of this essential local service. This only reinforces the urgent need to put the voices of the people who use social care services at the front and centre of any reform process and to empower their ability to make, and benefit from, decisions taken locally.

“We continue to engage constructively with Ministers to raise our significant concerns about the implications of the proposals on this ambition and to push for more detail as to how a National Care Service would work in practice. We await the upcoming publication of an analysis of the responses that have been received and call for urgent clarity on the steps that will be taken to respond to the concerns that we have repeatedly raised. In the meantime, we remain committed to improving delivery for the people who use, and work in, social care as is set out in our Statement of Intent with the Scottish Government.”