- Conference
- 2011 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 24 February 2011
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the proposals in Scotland to merge social care and health within the NHS. These proposals would see the transfer of Council functions in care for older people and adults transferred from local authority control and merged with health functions within local Health Boards.
These proposals claim to build upon the experience of integrated health and social care services throughout the UK and to prevent the “post code lottery” of care and ensuring a “seamless” service for service users.
Conference notes that the proposals in Scotland would see thousands of local government staff employed in social care being transferred to the NHS. In the medium to long term this would impact massively on the terms and conditions of staff, could lead to job losses and have an impact on pensions.
The proposals also raise issues relating to the professional practice of staff from a social work background. Conference is concerned that staff may be de-skilled as there is a blurring of roles within any integrated organisation.
Conference however recognises that the major driving force of these proposals is to save money and reflect an approach to demographic changes which sees a growing number of older people as a problem rather than as an opportunity for people to live longer and more rewarding lives with an opportunity to contribute to society.
Conference notes that issues of the democratic accountability of social care services, the future viability of local councils and the lack of evidence that such integration proposals will by themselves guarantee improvements in services are all of concern.
Conference asks that the SGE conducts research into the experience of integration schemes across the country to seek evidence on how these schemes have impacted on the terms and conditions of staff, the extent of job losses , the effect on their pensions and what professional conflicts have arisen and if and how these have been addressed.