Published: Monday, 19th May, 2008 16:30
Making free care a reality
By Duncan McNeil
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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 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 is 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 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 how 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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