The body representing private and independent care providers in Scotland has welcomed a wide-ranging review of adult social care but said more should be done to tackle ‘iniquitous’ care home fees.

Scottish Care also questioned whether the review’s calculations for extra funding – which add up to an extra £660m a year – “truly reflect” the cost of the new vision for social care published yesterday.

The report is the culmination of the efforts of Derek Feeley and a panel of advisors who were tasked by Nicola Sturgeon with conducting a review of social care that would pave the way for a National Care Service.

Although the report said social care in Scotland should be “free at the point of need” it backed keeping accommodation charges for care home residents, on the grounds that they might face similar costs if they were at home.

Currently care home residents with assets above £28,500 are expected to meet all of their residential care costs.

Public Health Scotland estimates this works out at an average £882 per week without nursing care and £977 per week with nursing care.

Scottish Care has questioned this recommendation, stating: ‘We continue to believe that it is both iniquitous and discriminatory that depending on the health condition you have, dementia or cancer, the expense for the care you require to live and be part of your community is unfairly levelled at those who require to move from their own home into a residential or nursing home.’

In a statement, the organisation added: ‘We would like to believe that a National Care Service could develop more innovative, inclusive and equal fiscal fairness around accommodation costs.

‘What will be important is that the creation of such a service does not become an exercise in additional bureaucracy and processes but truly provides a vehicle for collaboration, transformation and bridging the many implementation gaps identified in the review.

‘As a sector we want to affirm that care homes have a critical role in the future of adult social care, and we would want to build on the learning from innovative models of residential care currently being developed in Scotland and internationally.

Commissioning and procurement practices in social care are a point of contention, with accusations of profiteering by private providers standing alongside complaints local authorities take advantage of their position as the dominant buyers of care by underpaying providers to the extent some charity and independent providers have had to exit the market.

Scottish Care states: ‘We need to strip out competition and replace it with collaborative, responsible and ethical approaches which include those who are the primary purchasers of care – citizens themselves.

‘In a homecare context, the details of this will be important and we hope to see a radical shift adopted as a result of the review away from punitive and restrictive approaches.

‘We hope that commissioning and procurement reform will ensure that we also see an end to the discriminatory treatment of those who live in care homes where to date few have been able to benefit from the individual autonomy around budgets given to those who receive care in the community.’

Scottish Care’s chief executive Dr Donald Macaskill said the highly-anticipated findings of the review had “not disappointed”.

“[It] offers the vision of an authentic, rights-based, inclusive and diverse social care future for Scotland.  It rightly acknowledges that there is much that we should be proud of in Scotland in what we have and in what we are doing.

“However…words alone and legislation left on the shelf will not do. Its recognition that we need to engage in robust implementation of what we have as well as re-shaping new and creative approaches, is both refreshing and vital.

“We need to make sure that what we say on paper really changes the lives of those who need care and support.

“I welcome the flesh which it puts on the bones of the idea of a National Care Service.

“Having been concerned about the way in which such a phrase was being used as a soundbite without substance, I am delighted to see the articulation of a realistic and dynamic model, process and structure.

“But more importantly I am pleased to see that central to all the review’s findings is the urgent necessity to focus on the needs of the individual who is being supported to ensure their ability to be a full citizen of their community and of Scotland.”