Wednesday 2nd November 2022

Commenting this morning (Wednesday) Councillor Paul Kelly, COSLA’s Health and Social Care Spokesperson said:

“In the midst of a crisis in social care, Scotland’s communities deserve meaningful and concerted action to protect our health and social care services as much as possible, over what will be an extremely challenging winter. Council Leaders expressed real concern at the pressures within the system which are impacting on people and communities’ access to much needed care and support.

“COSLA have emphasised to Scottish Government for several months now the importance of a strong, well-resourced, whole system approach to dealing with these pressures. Council Leaders were clear in their disappointment with the lack of a coordinated, joint response to the crisis in social care as reflected in Scottish Government’s Winter Resilience Overview.”

Councillor Kelly concluded: “With no new action and no new investment being made available ahead of a challenging winter and amidst a ‘cost of living’ crisis, councils are left to confront and react to these challenges as best as they can. But I cannot stress enough how urgent and necessary a national, properly resourced and coordinated plan is and this must be developed at pace with Local Government and our delivery partners across social care.”