Health and social care emergency to be declared

A MOTION has been submitted to declare a health and social care emergency in Dumfries and Galloway. The Labour Group will raise the issue at a meeting of the full council next week. Explaining how it’s come about, group depute leader Cllr Linda Dorward said: “Social care in Dumfries and Galloway is in crisis. Delayed discharges remain far too high because care packages simply aren’t available. “We cannot keep papering over the cracks — we need a serious and urgent response from Scottish Government. We cannot accept a situation where care for our most vulnerable citizens is slashed because of budget failure. It is plain this is a moral as well as a financial emergency, further complicated by the fact that The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires that “an authority’s yearly expenditure must not exceed the resources it has available”, in essence D&G Council has a responsibility and legal obligation to deliver a balanced budget. To do this service cuts are inevitable.” She highlighted that this year whilst the gap in the local authority’s social care budget has reduced from £12.5m to £6.65m, it’s expected the deficit may increase as the year progresses; And unlike last year, this time no funding is available from NHS D&G Labour leader Cllr Carolyne Wilson added: “Our motion calls on the Scottish Government to provide more funding for rural areas for health and social care recognising the higher costs of service delivery and for additional investment in prevention, early intervention, family support and community led services to take pressure of in patient services.”