By Lucy Ashton
The chaos engulfing our care service has left thousands ‘stuck in limbo,’ Scottish Labour has said today, as over 6000 Scots are waiting for an assessment to receive care services.
Figures for the week ending July 25 show there were 6,253 people in Scotland waiting for a social care assessment in the community or in hospital, and another 3,964 who had been assessed but were still awaiting a care package.
This amounts to over 10,000 patients stuck waiting to receive care.
These jaw-dropping figures come after months of chaos and delay from the SNP on their botched National Care Service bill, which has now been delayed for a third time until 2024.
And two years on from the SNP announcing the scrapping of non-residential care charges, no progress has been made.
Scottish Labour has repeatedly called on the government to focus on the immediate challenge of the staffing crisis in social care.
Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie, pictured left, said: “These shocking figures are a true indictment of the SNP’s plans to rejuvenate the care sector and show how superficial the level of engagement with the sector has been.
“While the SNP wasted months investing in a poorly planned National Care Service and ignoring the many valid criticisms of their plans, the social care sector continued to suffer from underinvestment and workforce shortages.
“Thousands have been left stuck in limbo by a party that would rather invest in its own PR than in social care services and its staff.
“We are now months down the line and plans for the service have been left in tatters, while hardworking staff continue to struggle with the increased demand they are facing.
“The time has now come for the SNP to put aside their constitutional obsession and focus instead on delivering the change that the social care sector really needs.”