Is Scotland's National Care Service at a crossroads, or a dead end? The SNP Government insists that the legislation to create the NCS is simply "paused" while ministers and civil servants go back to the drawing board to consider the criticism raised by trade unions, Cosla, councils, and political opponents who have within their support for the current Bill like a string of dominoes in recent months. Back in September 2021, when then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged that the new care service would be "operational" by the end of the parliamentary term in 2026, she described it as "arguably the most significant public service reform since the creation of the National Health Service". READ MORE: Scotland, Sweden, and paying for care in an ageing society Lecanemab: What now for 'game-changing' Alzheimer's drug rejected by NHS Another Dilnot? What next for Scotland's National Care Service reform More than £28m spent on developing National Care Service plan She conceded that such massive reform would inevitably come with fierce debate, but that it was "vital that we get this right".
More than three years on, Ms Sturgeon has exited stage left, Scotland is on its third Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in as many years, and the vision of a care service lies in tatters. The day after the Scottish Government confirmed that the NCS Bill was being delayed, I happened to be chairing Scottish Care's annual conference at the Glasgow Hilton hotel. The mood music from the hun.