Fraser: Council to NHS transfer plan could be a step in the right direction

Reports today state that nearly 40,000 council staff across Scotland will transfer to NHS employment, as the Scottish Government plans to shift responsibility for delivering adult community care from local authorities to health boards.

Murdo Fraser MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing, said:

"The introduction of free personal care for the elderly in Scotland was underpinned by the assertion that the provision of social care was a health issue.

"The Sutherland Report nearly ten years ago recommended the merger of health and social care budgets, and Scottish Conservatives have been calling for this for a number of years as well. Little has happened in the interim and this change now needs to take place.

"In these difficult economic times, we need to do all we can to protect jobs and services. A joined-up approach would reduce delayed discharges and ensure a better service for older people with a faster response to their needs.

"We will ask Ministers to see more details of this plan before we can endorse it, but this sounds like a step in the right direction."

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