Eilidh Munro, the SNP candidate for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in May’s elections, has called for a radical shift in how social care staff are recruited and supported across the Highlands.
Her call follows a debate in the Scottish Parliament where MSPs examined the pressures facing social care across Scotland and highlighted the impact of UK Government decisions including the rise in employer National Insurance contributions and the ban on care worker visas.
Concerns in the Highlands have been growing for some time and Kate Forbes confirmed in October that a new working group will be established to examine the situation closely and identify solutions tailored to rural and remote communities.
The Scottish Government’s 2025 to 2026 budget committed £2.2 billion to social care and integration, surpassing its pledge to increase spending by 25 percent over the course of the parliamentary term.
Eilidh Munro said:
“The work of carers, both paid and unpaid, is absolutely essential to our communities and families; it is imperative that this contribution is valued and that all our carers are properly supported to fulfill these vital roles.
“I am very pleased at this week’s announcement, for example, of funding for the Skye and Lochalsh Young Carers Group.
“We all know of the significant challenges facing social care delivery in the Highlands.
“But as well as ensuring sufficient provision of care home beds, we need to take radical steps to ensure urgent and significant progress can be made in improving recruitment and retention of social care staff all across the Highlands to allow people to be cared for in their own homes wherever viable.
“Measures such as introducing a Highland weighting for local care staff and ensuring care workers are paid for time spent travelling between appointments could make a real difference, as well as giving prospective staff greater flexibility over which areas they are assigned to cover and as much support as possible with ongoing training and required qualifications.
“There is plenty of work already underway on this front by stakeholders.
“I also think the National Care Home Contract needs to be looked at again by COSLA to ensure the cost of delivering care in the Highlands is being covered through the formula, as just now allocations are calculated on the basis of larger (50 bed) care homes.
“Everyone should be able to access high quality social care support, no matter when they need it or where they are based.”
Her comments form part of a broader discussion on how the Highlands can improve support for vulnerable people while ensuring the workforce is valued, retained and able to provide care at home wherever possible.
