We are seeing record waiting times for NHS treatments, massive delays in waiting times for A&E and thousands being let down when they require care at home and in the community.
None of this was inevitable or is acceptable and is due to failed Tory austerity and a failure by the SNP to workforce plan for our NHS and social care.
Sadly, the response from governments in both Scotland and the UK to date has been woeful, with the Tories attacking the workers whilst the SNP have brought forward a bill to create a National Care Service which in reality is nothing more than government-branded privatisation that will do more damage than good and certainly does not provide solutions for the problems we face in health and social care.
I am working with local CLPs and Trade Unions to campaign for the actions we need, I hope you can get involved and I look forward to working with you over the coming months.
Email Mid Scotland and Fife MSPs
Use this link to open a new email to your Mid Scotland and Fife MSPs: click here
You can also copy the email addresses here:
annabelle.ewing.msp@parliament.scot; roz.mccall.msp@parliament.scot; alex.rowley.msp@parliament.scot; claire.baker.msp@parliament.scot; alexander.stewart.msp@parliament.scot; murdo.fraser.msp@parliament.scot; mark.ruskell.msp@parliament.scot; liz.smith.msp@parliament.scot
We have prepared a template below that can be sent to your MSPs but you are welcome to change or add to this as you think appropriate.
It is important to always include your full name and address when contacting your MSPs to confirm you are a constituent.
Template Email
Subject: Mid Scotland & Fife Cares – Stop the National Care Service
Text:
YOUR NAME
YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS
Dear Mid Scotland and Fife MSPs,
I am writing to you as one of your constituents to ask that you do everything in your power to stop the plan to introduce a National Care Service.
I believe everyone agrees that there are major issues within our health and social care services at the moment but the Scottish Government’s current proposals to introduce a National Care Service will only serve to exasperate these issues.
While the name of “National Care Service” may draw comparisons to the NHS in the minds of people across this country, this is simply a cynical attempt to disguise what is actually being proposed – a further centralisation of power away from local authorities to the Scottish Government, a further cementing of the private sector in social care provision, despite the disastrous impact the private sector’s inclusion has had on social care provision already, and a further reduction in the availability of social care roles that offer fair pay, terms and conditions.
Rather than creating further problems by forcing through a National Care Service bill, we are calling on the Scottish Government to seriously address the current chronic condition of social care services by:
– Stopping the NCS bill – call a halt to the progression of this flawed legislation to stop the creation of further problems
– Guarantee £15/hour minimum wage for all care workers across Scotland
– Support local authorities wherever it is possible to bring care services in house so they are run by local government for the public good and not by private companies for profit.
– End privatisation of care service provision.
In their report released in June 2022, “Profiting from Care: Why Scotland Can’t Afford Privatised Social Care” (https://stuc.org.uk/files/Reports/Profiting-from-Care-Report.pdf), the STUC analysed the 10 largest for-profit and 10 largest non-profit care home operators in Scotland to see where the money spent by the government, care users and their families is going. They found:
– Between 2017 and 2020, the ten largest for-profit firms spent £8.45 of every £100 received in fees on profits, rent, payments to the directors, and interest payments on loans. For the ten largest not-for-profit care home operators, the figure is around £3.43.
– This corresponds to approximately £4000 of ‘leakage’ per bed each year on these non-care expenditures by for-profit providers. Excluding two heavily loss-making providers, the rest of the ‘Big 10’ for-profit providers ‘leaked’ over £10,400 per bed (or £20 of every £100 received in fees) with the most profitable taking out £13,600 per bed (or £28 of every £100 received in fees). While this spending is not all necessarily illegitimate, for-profit providers spend systematically more on these kinds of expenditures than non-profit providers.
With these figures in mind, it makes no sense at all to further cement privatisation into care service provision through the proposed NCS bill.
I hope you will look at the STUC’s report and draw the same conclusions they have – that the NCS bill will not solve Scotland’s dire health and social care issues – and stop this bill by any means possible.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
UNISON-Scotland-Vision-for-a-National-Care-Service