Health Secretary Alex Neil has criticised Aberdeen City Council’s approach to delivering social care services.
He said setting up a arms-length body Bon Accord Care was not the wisest thing to do because it had led to the “disintegration instead of the integration of services”.
Aberdeen Donside SNP MSP Mark McDonald claimed the city’s “care crisis” had led to people being left in hospital or care homes rather than returned to their own homes with appropriate care packages.
Mr Neil, who made the remarks at Holyrood, said he and NHS Grampian were willing to work with the local authority to try and resolve the situation.
Aberdeen City Council finance convener Willie Young said the organisation was not without its problems but insisted it was generally working well.
He added that Mr Neil was criticising a body that Mr McDonald and nationalist MSP Kevin Stewart voted to set up when they were councillors.
Mr Neil said: “To semi-privatise services in the way that it looks like Aberdeen City Council is trying to do is about the disintegration, instead of the integration, of services.
“I am very much aware of the delayed discharges issue and the problem is very much confined to the city of Aberdeen.
“Much of that is because of the lack of social care provision, whether it is assessment provision or care home provision.”
Mr McDonald said it was time for council leaders to “wake-up” and realise the gravity of the situation.
Mr Young said: “We have invited Alex Neil to Aberdeen to have a look at what we are doing but he had not taken us up on that opportunity.
“We would love to see him in Aberdeen but he has his own problems with the NHS and perhaps it would be better for him to concentrate on that and leave us to deal with what we are supposed to do.”
Mr Young said he was “delighted” that John Swinney has said he was prepared to examine the case for an Aberdeen waiting allowance to help public sector workers struggling to cope with the high cost of living in the city.
“We are delighted the finance minister has realised the problems we in Aberdeen have in providing the services the public expects,” he added.