CARE CRASH

Government under pressure after £30m blown on doomed national service plan

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

THE SNP government has ditched plans for a national care service despite spending nearly £30m on the doomed shake-up.

Ministers finally admitted defeat after unions, councils and rival parties withdrew support.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar claimed Health Secretary Neil Gray should be fired, saying: "Our NHS and care system is in permanent crisis and we have a Health Secretary no one has confidence in.

"He should be sacked for mismanaging our NHS."

The government's NCS plan involved a massive upheaval of the social care sector in a bid to drive up standards and wages.

Covid had exposed a post-code lottery in the quality of service provided and workers were paid different amounts for the same job.