CARERS WILL BE A PRIORITY QUESTION FOR REFORM MSP DAVID SMITH

by Bill Heaney

If the Reform Party is what it says on the label and not a cohort of right-wing raving loonies as they have been portrayed in much of the media, then the Scottish Parliament has just got its first taste of what’s to come at Holyrood over the next five years.

David Smith, pictured right, a Dumbarton resident who was elected in the Dumbarton constituency, can be expected to deliver a local line on local issues on behalf of local people.

He limited his maiden speech to first of all thanking the NHS staff, local authority staff and those in the third sector for all their hard work over many years to provide care and kindness to the most vulnerable citizens in our society.

And the ex-Navyman also welcomed Angela Constance, the new Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care, to her position and thanked her for recognising the need for reform and renewal.

He said: “There is a temptation to ask whether the phrase ‘reform’—and we really like reform—is an acknowledgement of all the Government’s failures over the years, but I will not do that. My aim is not to campaign against the Government but instead to identify areas in the social care system in which there are significant shortfalls, so that collaborative work on renewal and reform can begin across all parties.

“My experience of the social care system is a lived experience. My oldest son has learning difficulties, which has given me many opportunities to work with many different organisations and understand the areas in which our social care system does and does not work from an end-user perspective.

“A few years ago, my partner and I became kinship carers. For those of you who are not familiar with kinship care, it is when social services place a child with somebody whom the child already knows: a grandparent, auntie, uncle or friend—in our case, the child was my daughter’s friend. Such children generally get very good results when they go on into further life. Our cared-for person has now grown up, and she has a house of her own.”

He added: “Those experiences led me to sit on the West Dunbartonshire health and social care partnership board. Every local authority has such a board, and it is the subject on which I want to start. Some MSPs might have sat on such a board, and others might not have done.

“Every board should have an unpaid carers rep, which was my position. Support for those representatives is provided by the Coalition of Carers in Scotland, to which I pay a special thank you for all its efforts to support unpaid carers over the years.

“Our current system for delivering social care is devolved to each local authority, which means that when we consider reform and look at the picture across the whole of Scotland, we see that it is very fragmented.

“Some boards deliver services very well, and others do not, but we must acknowledge that service delivery takes very different forms across Scotland.”

He added: “We also need to acknowledge that every health board across Scotland is really struggling to deliver basic services. Health and social care partnership board meetings have largely become showcases for cuts on top of cuts, so being a board member can sometimes be really depressing.

“In trying to justify everything that I have said, I will use the example of the care at home service. In West Dunbartonshire, the service is particularly poor at the moment. Allocated time slots for carers have been reduced to seven minutes.

“Many local authorities across Scotland have reduced their time slots to 10 minutes. Does the cabinet secretary agree that such incredibly short visits are completely inappropriate? The Scottish Government must consider legislation that would introduce statutory time allocations.”

Labour’s Jackie Baillie interjected at this point to say: “I would not be opposed to the legislation that David Smith has suggested, but there would be a quicker way: the Government could give staff sufficient resources to enable them to do their job. Would he agree with that?”

David Smith replied: “I would. Thirty minutes is generally considered by a lot of campaigners to be a reasonable amount of time for a visit, and the issue was discussed in the Westminster Parliament in 2014. However, that is just one example.

“Many, if not all, local authorities in Scotland are in severe financial difficulty, which is cited as the reason for the decline in many health and social care services.

“Will the cabinet secretary, Angela Constance, review the formula for health and social care funding, with a view to better matching the funding to the service demands in local areas?”

Mr Smith added: “In many areas across Scotland, there is a higher proportion of people claiming adult disability payment than there is in other parts of Scotland. That includes areas where, historically, there have been large blocks of industry.

“An easy example is the constituencies around the Clyde area, where there is a higher proportion of people claiming adult disability payment due to shipbuilding. That leads to increased funding demands, and councils in those areas are the ones that are struggling the most.

“Last October, I had the privilege of being invited to the carers’ parliament, which was held just up the road at the Apex hotel on the Grassmarket. Such events are incredibly beneficial because they bring together unpaid carers from all over Scotland to speak about and debate health and social care issues. Many people attended and bravely shared their stories and experiences. It would be inappropriate for me to repeat any of them now, but I will share what many considered to be the broad consensus of the day.

“First, carers do not want platitudes. They do not want to hear from us that we sympathise and they are doing a great job, but that they should just carry on. They have heard that all before, and they have been hearing it for far too long. They demand action.

“Secondly, many believe that there is actually enough money in the system, but that it is being spent poorly. I believe that too, but I was surprised to hear that on the day from other people at the event. A few people even said that we should introduce some sort of trial system in social care to identify wasteful spending.

“The final point that I took away from the event is that many believe that the problem with the whole system is that, for far too long, although the Scottish Government has introduced policies that sound amazing, there is never a plan, and there is never enough money to fund the policies.

“We all have a shared responsibility to get this right, and we are willing to work with all parties to ensure that that happens.”

* Breaking news is that carers’ trade union representatives in West Dunbartonshire have been having new talks with the Health and Social Care committee about the vexed question of new rotas that were imposed on them. From what he has said above, we can expect David Smith MSP to take a close interest in this. The Dumbarton Democrat will be keeping a close watch on developments and reporting on them.