Relatives of care home residents in some rural areas are having to travel more than 100 miles to visit loved ones because of a raft of closures, industry bosses have warned.
New figures reveal that 476 care homes in Scotland have either sold up or collapsed over the last decade.
Bosses at Scottish Care blamed a slump in the number of beds in private homes paid for by local authorities and growing financial pressures like last year’s increase in the national insurance contributions.
They also warned the closures have had the biggest impact in more remote areas, which are now being cut off from residential facilities for elderly people.
It led to claims the situation will pile pressure on the NHS and leave more patients ‘stuck in limbo’ on hospital beds.
Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, said: ‘What we are seeing is an increasing pattern of rural and remote care homes in particular not being able to sustain themselves and actually closing, meaning that people are having to travel upwards of 100 miles to see their family members.
‘We are also seeing a change in the shape of care home provision in Scotland, which means a loss of a lot of small family independent care homes in villages and towns around the country and a growth in middle-sized groups.
‘All of this could have been avoided, we could have done things to ensure that we were able to retain many more of our rural and small care homes.’ He told the BBC’s The Sunday Show that key pressures included a ‘sharp reduction’ in the number of beds bought by health and social care partnerships this year due to soaring debts, and said this is leading to increasing waits for patients waiting longer for care assessments to help them leave hospital.
Lack of support: Elderly people are being left cut off
He also said UK Government increases in employer national insurance contributions and changes to visas has meant smaller care homes are ‘struggling to keep the doors open’.
The figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats from the Care Inspectorate show that 476 care homes have cancelled their service since 2015, meaning they were either closed down entirely or taken on by another provider.
This includes 34 this year up to the end of July – which is already higher than 30 in the whole of last year.
In the last decade, there were 56 closures in Glasgow City, 46 in Fife, 43 in Edinburgh, 36 in South Lanarkshire and 24 in Highland.
Among the reasons provided for closures, 43 cited financial unviability, 42 a change of legal owner, 40 the sale of a business as a going concern, and 27 problems around recruiting suitable staff.
Last year, the SNP government ditched plans to introduce a national care service following a major backlash – after it spent nearly £30million on the proposals.
Angus MacDonald, Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, said: ‘These figures expose the mammoth strains on our care sector, and the chronic lack of government action to tackle them.
‘Care providers feel like they’re on their own. The SNP wasted four years and £30million on a bureaucratic takeover of social care that they ultimately had to ditch. Meanwhile, the UK Labour Government only made things worse by clobbering providers with a cruel tax hike.
‘This is a damning verdict on the state of social care in Scotland.
‘Families are suffering and people can’t get the support they desperately need. They are stuck in limbo in hospital beds and it’s ramping up pressure in our NHS.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We do not want to see the closure of good quality care homes and we understand the concern this causes for residents and their families.
‘We meet regularly with social care leaders to discuss the sector’s ongoing challenges, including severe workforce shortages and bed capacities – and want to ensure they are supported to deliver timely, high-quality care.’