The Scottish government is scrapping its plans to create a National Care Service.
It is an embarrassing but perhaps predictable end to years of ambitious talk about finally coming up with a solution to the social care crisis.
In a statement at Holyrood, the government tore up parts of the bill that would require major structural changes to the Scottish social care system.
The downfall of the plan wasn’t money or lack of ambition necessarily.
And there was cross-party agreement on what needed to be done. The problem was a frustrating lack of consensus on how to get there.
It is also the end of the process that has been costly too.
More than £30m has already been spent on planning the policy cover the last three years.
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It was one of the boldest public service reforms of the SNP’s 17 years in power, with the scheme forming a key policy of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s administration.
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In 2021, Ms Sturgeon branded the National Care Service the “most ambitious reform since devolution”.
Now, the plan is in tatters, and it tells us a lot about how difficult social care reform is and what might lie in store for the Westminster government.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has unveiled plans to reform the social care system with his own version of a National Care Service, designed to bring it closer to the National Health Service.
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Mr Streeting announced the formation of an independent commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, to develop comprehensive proposals for organising and funding social care.
But the past is littered with broken promises when it comes to social care reform.
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Successive governments from Tony Blair right through to Boris Johnson have failed to grasp the nettle and implement plans.
It is in part due to the billions of pounds that would be needed to pay for it – likely raised through taxes – but it has also failed because political parties haven’t been able to work together to make reform a reality.
The failure of the Scottish plan does not bode well for future social care reforms across the rest of the UK.
