Claims that Fife Council’s budget consultation has been a sham and that home care is on the brink of collapse have been rejected.
The Fife Campaign Against Charges and Cuts (CACC) group says its members had been trying to respond to the council’s invitation to give their views on the proposed budget cuts.
Maureen Closs, a spokeswoman for the group, said many had found the consultation exercise to be “impossible”, especially in regard to the section on health and social care.
However, Fife Council leader David Ross said: “These assertions are just plain wrong. We have no intention of cutting £11 million from the budget for health and social care.
“In fact, we have committed over £6m of additional funding to the social work service this year to meet the needs of older people and vulnerable adults and we will be investing further additional funding in these services next year.
“We all know that the home care service is under significant pressure but it is certainly not ‘on the brink of collapse’.
“We have looked, with health and social care management, at a number of ways of improving the service.
“The ‘savings’ figures outlined in the budget paper are what we estimate can be achieved by reviewing aspects of services, to ensure they are delivered in a way that is efficient and meets the needs of our community.
“Savings made in this way will be reinvested in other parts of the service for example, models to support quicker discharge from hospital.”
Mr Ross said it was his view that Fife’s health and social care services are “badly underfunded” by Holyrood.