Sturgeon urged to solve row over £1bn agency

Ministers have been urged not to sit on the fence in the acrimonious dispute between Scotland’s largest health board and local authority, amid accusations the board rejected an offer from its former chairman to try and find a way forward.

With the row over the imminent collapse of a near £1 billion joint agency providing frontline health care and social work across Glasgow showing no sign of a resolution, the city council has approached both Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon and Sir John Arbuthnott, the former chairman of Greater Glasgow’s NHS board, to attempt to break the impasse.

The Community Health Care Partnerships are on the cusp of being dismantled after four years of planning, with the NHS wanting to go it alone after the council said it was too risky to spend £400 million up front.

Arbuthnott, whose recent report on reforming the public sector to weather the economic storm recommended the merger of core health and council services, agreed to be involved after being approach by the council.

The local authority said it would cover the cost of his participation and it also approached The Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) to help broker a way forward.

However, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s chief executive Robert Calderwood has said that, as his organisation believes the blame for the collapse of the pioneering partnerships lies with the council, it does not need the involvement of an arbitrator, claiming that “given the focus of the external input is in relation to the perceived risks to the council, we would not see it [intervention] as a joint process”.

Sources claim cross-party politicians on the health board blame the local authority. Sturgeon also appears to think the breakdown is the responsibility of the Labour-run council.

But the authority’s deputy leader, Archie Graham, said that the minister appeared to be not fully informed of the situation as the public sector audit bodies had urged caution in proceeding with the partnerships.

He said the buck ultimately stopped with the Health Secretary, adding that it was not enough for her to say it was a matter for both sides to resolve among themselves.

Graham, who last week accused the NHS of using pejorative language in a report on the matter, said: “Involving Sir John and SWIA is an indication of how far we’ve gone as a council to try to resolve this but Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t seem to have recognised this.

“She doesn’t seem prepared to back our suggestion, while someone in her position should try to persuade the health board that this is an honourable way forward.”

Sturgeon said she was encouraged that further discussions had taken place after she spoke to Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson and health board chairman Andrew Robertson

But she added: “This ultimately remains a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Glasgow City Council and they need to come to a workable solution together.”