'Room for negotiation' on national care service plan - Gray

The Scottish government's wellness caput has said helium wants to "get backmost astir the table" with councils regarding plans for a nationalist attraction work - contempt section authorities voting to retreat their enactment from it.

Neil Gray told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that helium felt Cosla, the section assembly umbrella body, had made a "pre-emptive" decision regarding the scheme.

He said determination was inactive "room for negotiation" regarding the plan, which has been deed by a bid of setbacks since it was archetypal projected successful August 2021.

The program would spot societal attraction work transferred from councils to a caller nationalist service, benefitting elderly, disabled and stateless people, among others.

Cosla stated past week that it had concerns astir the projected authorities and that organisations wrong the attraction assemblage had besides expressed doubts astir the changes, portion the GMB and Unison unions besides pulled their enactment recently.

However, Gray told BBC Scotland helium believed the measure could inactive spell ahead.

He said: "I privation [the nationalist attraction service] brought into being arsenic rapidly arsenic imaginable due to the fact that I tin recognize the request that is retired there, I tin spot it from the work users that I talk to - that's wherefore I privation to get backmost astir the array with section authorities and find a mode forward."

Gray added: "We are each successful statement I judge that determination is simply a request for reform, a request for alteration and that is what I americium determined we tin deliver."

The wellness caput said the proposals were "not astir centralisation" but focused connected ensuring determination were "consistent standards" crossed the country.

Cosla has antecedently expressed concerns that the measure did not correspond the enactment councils had contributed to the scheme.

The determination to retreat enactment was past criticised by societal attraction curate Maree Todd arsenic showing "total disregard" for radical successful the sector.

However, Gray took a much conciliatory tone.

He said: "I had paused elements of the amendments that were to travel guardant implicit the summertime astatine the petition of Cosla, truthful that they could absorption connected reducing the delayed discharge figures that we are wrestling with astatine the moment.

"So I deliberation it's somewhat pre-emptive for leaders to person taken this decision, but I americium inactive unfastened to treatment due to the fact that we some request to spot betterment coming through."

He added helium understood Cosla members had "strongly held views" and determination was a "growing request for societal attraction services" successful Scotland.

The Scottish authorities described the measure arsenic being the "biggest nationalist work betterment successful Scotland since devolution", and said it would streamline the attraction process for elderly, disabled oregon stateless people, arsenic good arsenic those with addictions, families and unpaid carers.

The strategy would fto radical power betwixt antithetic types of attraction arsenic their needs changed.

Originally the measure was planned to person been introduced by the extremity of the 2026 parliamentary term. But successful December 2023, the then-health secretary, Michael Matheson, said it was delayed until 2028/29.

Earlier this month, unions withdrew their enactment - with GMB Scotland's elder organiser Keir Greenaway telling the BBC that the strategy would lone adhd much bureaucracy to the sector.