This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Free personal care within seven months
24/09/2001
The Executive is to press ahead with its commitment to
free personal and nursing care for the elderly, starting
from April next year.
Ministers agreed to implement the proposals reported
earlier this month by the Care Development Group, which was
set up in February.
The £125 million package includes:
- the removal of all charges for personal care in the
community;
- for those in a care home who are currently
self-funding, a flat rate payment of £90 a week for
personal care and for those needing nursing care an
additional £65 a week. These sums reflect the current
average costs for those in similar circumstances whose
costs are currently paid for from the public
purse;
- additional funding for local authorities to
continue to offer more care in people's own homes by
improving the standard and availability of the wide
range of services that can maintain older people's
independence and enable them to stay home longer;
In line with the recommendations of the Care Development
Group, the Executive will:
- establish an implementation support group to take
forward the Group's recommendations;
- adopt a definition of personal care which endorses
that recommended by the Royal Commission and includes
psychological support and counselling; and
- back the Group's endorsement of the Royal
Commission's recommendation that people should continue
to pay their own living and accommodation costs where
they can afford to do so.
First Minister Henry McLeish said:
"Today we are honouring our commitment to the older
people of Scotland with the announcement that there will be
full implementation of free personal care, meeting the
recommendations of the Care Development Group in full.
"By putting on the table the additional £125 million
each year needed to implement a policy of free nursing and
personal care we have underlined our commitment to putting
older people at the very top of the Executive's
priorities.
"By bringing forward legislation, we will provide the
statutory means to start implementing free nursing and
personal care from 1 April 2002.
"In implementing free personal care, we are building on
the foundations of our earlier response to the Royal
Commission, and in this package, moving beyond the
Commission's recommendations. We are also investing in
building up improved care services in order to allow more
people to stay at home - which is where they want to
be."
Minister for Health and Community Care Susan Deacon
said:
"I would like to offer my thanks to the members of the
Group for the substantial personal and professional
commitment that they have given to the group's work over
the last seven months. I pay particular tribute to Deputy
Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm, who has driven the work
forward.
"The report provides a thorough analysis of the
important and complex issue of long term care. It also
highlights the good work that is going on across Scotland
to deliver care centred on the needs of older people. We
need to build on that progress and cement the partnerships
and co-operation which are currently growing across the
country.
"Providing free nursing and personal care will help in
breaking down the barriers which can prevent the smooth
delivery of services between the NHS and local
authorities.
"When we combine this with our legislative proposals for
creating a framework for joint working and pooling of
budgets, and the work which will be undertaken to provide a
more consistent framework for charging, we have the
opportunity as never before in Scotland to create a care
system which is modern, efficient and well focussed on the
needs of individuals.
"We are already seeing the early signs of the investment
we announced last October coming through. Rapid response
teams have now been set up in many areas - providing quick,
flexible support for people who fall ill and for whom a
short period of help in many cases has avoided the need to
go into hospital. In addition, there is now more respite
care available.
"Already local authorities and the NHS are working
together to build their capacity to deliver more care at
home. Examples include care for people have suffered a
stroke and who may otherwise have to go into a nursing
home, or for those coming out of hospital after a hip
replacement to support their recovery at home.
"I look forward to working with local authorities and
the NHS to deliver on these commitments. I particularly
welcome the CDG's recommendation for an implementation
group to take the detail of their proposals forward and put
them into practice. The Executive will bring that group
together very soon.
"There are many challenges for us all to ensure that
Scotland's older people get the support and dignity they
deserve in old age - both now and in the future. The
Executive is rising to that challenge."
Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace said:
"I am delighted that as an Executive and a coalition we
have been able to give the report a very warm welcome and
to undertake to implement the full range of recommendations
which it contains.
"I am pleased that the Group took the opportunity to
undertake a significant programme of consultation with the
public through meetings, focus groups and written
consultation.
"It is always important that the decisions we make are
based on what people are telling us and that we listen to
what people say.
"There is widespread support for free personal care and
that is what we will deliver. We have accepted the Group's
proposals for the definition of personal care. We have said
personal care will not be charged for in the community. We
have put on the table a substantial amount of money to pay
towards the costs of those in care homes.
"This is a significant investment in the future of
Scotland's older people. Society is getting older. More of
us are surviving further into old age. The structures of
the past will not meet the needs and expectations of people
in the future and this move towards increased equity of
provision of care for our older people is a recognition of
that fact.
"I believe that we have delivered in a way which will
allow us to put in place a secure foundation for care
services in the future. We will this week bring forward
legislation to put these foundations in place. I look
forward to their implementation from April next year."
BACKGROUND
- The full terms of reference of the Care Development
Group were announced on 31 January 2001. The report was
published on 14 September. The Community Care and
Health Bill will be published tomorrow.
- Improving services for people at home includes:
rapid response teams for every local authority area to
help vulnerable people to cope with crisis situations;
a 'home maintenance' programme in every local authority
area to help older people with day-to-day support like
shopping and laundry; extra respite care to give
relatives and carers the break they need; and more
funding for aids and adaptations like zimmer frames and
bath aids for older people.