Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay today said it was “common sense” to invest directly in social care, instead of wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on the SNP’s plan for a national care service.
In his first appearance as the new party leader at First Minister’s Questions, Findlay said the SNP government needed a “reality check” and has become “disconnected from the people it’s meant to represent”.
He called the SNP’s plan for a national care service a “pet project” that would not help anyone.
Scotland’s council leaders and several unions recently withdrew their support for the national care service.
This week, Public Health Scotland figures revealed that one in five care homes have closed over the past decade, and delayed discharge is at the highest level on record, with 2,000 people trapped in hospitals.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay MSP said: “Scotland’s care sector is collapsing today, people need action today and every penny should be spent on helping them today.
“But instead, the SNP will waste years on a plan for a national care service that has already wasted £28 million of taxpayers’ money and is projected to cost billions of pounds just to set up.
“This is classic SNP. Wasting time and money. Neglecting what people really need. Government ministers yet again grabbing power from local communities.
“Another expensive, bloated and wasteful quango won’t help anyone.
“This sums up what’s wrong with politics in Scotland. Plans for a national care service that are costing a fortune, but not caring for anyone. Just like ferries that don’t carry passengers and prisons that free criminals early.
“This SNP government needs a reality check. It’s become disconnected from the people it’s meant to represent, like the thousands who need social care right now.
“Surely it’s basic common sense to ditch the SNP’s national care service plan and just put the money directly into frontline care right now?”