A member of the adult social care review panel has warned against politicians implementing “some kind of bastard, piecemeal” version of the review of adult social care.

Ian Welsh, Chief Executive of a charity that ran the consultation process feeding into the review and an unpaid carer himself, said it would be a “massive disservice” to Scots with disabilities and long term conditions if the recommendations of the Feeley report were to be watered down in Holyrood.

Yesterday health secretary Humza Yousaf said a national care service would be up and running in the five-year term of this parliament.

Consultation on legislation to create the new body will begin within the next 100 days, he said.

The comments come amid continued disagreements over the role of local authorities, with the Scottish government and council group COSLA admitting before the election discussions in this area were still ongoing.

Speaking to healthandcare.scot ahead of the Alliance’s annual conference next week, Mr Welsh said this year’s gathering – Equally Valued: Equally Connected – was all the more important given the lack of attention paid to human rights during the pandemic.

With a new batch of MSPs taking their seats, the Alliance boss said fixing the funding mechanisms for third sector groups that were already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy should be at the top of the to-do list.

Just weeks ago, he was one of the signatories to an open letter warning politicians against cherry-picking recommendations from the Feeley review.

Chief among the disagreements is the part played by local authorities. The review said they should no longer have responsibility and that Integration Joint Boards should instead take charge of delivering social care.

Political parties remain divided, with the Scottish Conservatives saying they share the ‘grave concerns’ of local authorities, while the Scottish Greens and SNP have lent their full support to all of Feeley’s recommendations.

Ian Welsh said the findings of the review had received strong backing from organisations working in care and criticised the stance of some MSPs, telling healthandcare.scot: “when we listen to some of the comments from politicians…I’m not convinced [the review] was read in its entirety or its meaning was fully understood.”

A former council leader then briefly an MSP himself before moving into the third sector, Mr Welsh said he “fully believed” in the role of local authorities but argued the current system was not working.

“If all we’re going to do in the next two years is protect the interests of local authorities as service holders, then we’ll have done a massive disservice to disabled people, and people with long term conditions,” he said.

Mr Welsh went on to say it would be “regrettable, and wrong, frankly, if the next two years of legislative activity resulted in some kind of bastard, piecemeal, implementation process that actually became disconnected from the voices of the people who contributed to it, and which didn’t actually deliver the aims and ambitions that are in the review.”

“I’m calling for everybody to bury their marginal ideological differences and get behind that national care system which will have a far-reaching impact on the lives of our citizens and will put us in Scotland at the forefront of social care reform.”

Read more: Alliance chief: It’s all about the money; Watchdog: ‘Stark reality’ of halted council services; SNP commission backs care homes buyout

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