Scotland’s care sector needs urgent help - Alex Cole-Hamilton

Margaret was first admitted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness in November 2024 with a rare spinal condition and was later moved to the Town and Country Hospital in Wick in February 2025. She was assessed as fit to leave hospital, but she couldn’t because there were no carers able to drop in to help her in her home.

Hospital beds are needlessly occupied because of lack of after care provision

Margaret is now home, after her family were able to secure private care for her. If they hadn’t, she’d probably still be there. As appalling as it is, Margaret’s case is far from unique.

Figures from Public Health Scotland show that at the February 2026 census there were 1939 people whose discharge from hospital was delayed. That amounts to 55,547 days.

To put it another way, on any given night there are 2000 people in Scotland who are stuck in hospital when they don’t have to be. It’s difficult to imagine but it’s nearly the capacity of the Usher Hall and costs the NHS £1.2million a day.

The care crisis spans the entire country and it’s having a real and damaging impact on the services we all count on to be there when we need them.

At the upcoming Scottish Parliament election you have the chance to tell the SNP that you’ve had enough of the crisis they have created in Scotland’s care sector.

It is, for example, atrocious that discharging essentially stops at the weekend. As part of our solution, we’ll move the NHS to a seven-day discharge model so that people aren’t kept in hospital when they don’t need to be simply because of the day of the week.

Being stuck to weekdays is archaic, as is the lack of digital technology. That’s why we’re calling for the NHS app to help people arrange power of attorney so that they don’t become trapped in hospital if their circumstances worsen or change.

To solve the care crisis, we need to make a career working in care attractive and reliable.

That starts with ensuring that key workers have a place to stay and are not hammered into other decisions by the SNP’s housing crisis. Scottish Liberal Democrats will create dedicated key worker housing so that carers and other eligible workers aren’t put off taking up posts by a lack of housing.

We’ll reward carers with better pay and conditions, fair work and a career ladder that boosts their skills and respects and values their experience at every stage of their career.

For too long, people in Edinburgh and across the country have been let down by the SNP and the crisis in care that they have presided over. In government, they have neglected care and allowed the consequences of doing so to wreak havoc on the lives of patients.

By backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats, especially on that all important peach second regional ballot paper, everyone in Scotland can vote for a Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP committed to care and to change with fairness at its heart.