THE Scottish government is legislating for a scheme that will fundamentally undermine the idea of direct public delivery of services.

That it is calling it a “national care service” should fool no-one. That it is undermining fundamental NHS principles in doing so should worry everyone.

It’s often assumed that the plans embodied in the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill concern only residential care, or perhaps care in the community. Not so.

The scope and ambition of the legislation is huge, as Kevin Stewart the then-minister for in charge, was fond of saying: “The national care service as proposed in the Bill will bring together social work, social care and community health.”

The proposed NCS will take responsibilities and functions from the NHS, giving them to new quangoes called care boards.

The care boards won’t deliver services themselves, but instead contract and procure services from public, private and third-sector providers.

In doing so they can exclude health boards from even bidding for contracts to deliver services which are currently NHS responsibilities.

Section 41 of the Bill deals with procurement. Care boards, remember, will have no delivery capacity of their own, and will be contracting for and procuring all of the services they are responsible for.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Environment Matters