Report to the People
19th May 2008
Care-free?
Back
in 2006, when I was on the Health Committee, we conducted a major inquiry into
how the Executive’s flagship policy of free personal care was working in
practice.
We
uncovered a number of emerging problems, including: the funding formula put in
place by the Executive; “waiting lists” for free care in half the local
authorities; and a lack of guidance on key aspects of eligibility, such as the
preparation of meals.
Following
this, Lord Sutherland last month published his review of free personal and
nursing care. This
acknowledged that the free personal care policy was fully funded until the end
of 2005-6, but that there’s now a shortfall due to greater-than-expected
demand, which, in turn, is due to our ageing population.
Unsurprisingly,
quite who’s to blame was the focus of the argument when MSPs came to debate
Lord Sutherland’s findings last Thursday.
But perhaps more productive, I suggested, would be to put a little more
effort into sorting the problem out.
The
Scottish Government, for example, should be engaging with the UK Government’s
strategic review of the challenges around delivering sustainable long-term care
of the elderly.
And
the Government also needs to look again at how Scottish councils are funded.
I told the Minister at Question Time that communities like ours are
suffering because council funding doesn’t reflect the particular challenges
posed by our ageing, declining population.
No
matter where you point the finger, if the policy of free care is to continue,
someone needs to pay for it.
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