Free personal care 'worth fighting for'

Published on Monday 4 July 2011 15:49

THe man who masterminded the introduction of free personal care for the elderly in Scotland has defended the policy as "bringing real benefits" to the frail and vulnerable, after council leaders warned it was rapidly becoming unaffordable.

THe man who masterminded the introduction of free personal care for the elderly in Scotland has defended the policy as "bringing real benefits" to the frail and vulnerable, after council leaders warned it was rapidly becoming unaffordable.

Former first minister Henry McLeish accused the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) of attacking the policy, after Douglas Yates, its health and wellbeing spokesman said change was inevitable and warned elderly people could be means-tested for personal care.

The row came as a UK government-commissioned review said care costs for the elderly should be capped by the state at 35,000 in England.

Mr Yates claimed free personal care in Scotland was "not sustainable into the future", and that the number of "baby-boomers who are coming up to pensionable age" would put public funds under increasing pressure.

But Mr McLeish, who brought in free personal care in Scotland nine years ago, amid warnings that it would soon end up being unaffordable, mounted a robust defence of what was the flagship policy of his Labour-led administration.

He said responsibility for personal care should be transferred to the NHS and taken away from local councils who, he said, were "aggrieved" by the policy.

The former Scottish Labour leader claimed free personal care was being starved of funds by the SNP government's council tax freeze, which he branded a "tremendous misuse" of taxpayers's cash.

Writing in The Scotsman today, Mr McLeish told how daily visits from carers were a "lifeline" for his late father "a proud and fiercely independent ex-miner" who suffered from dementia.

He said: "It does appear that Cosla, through its spokespersons two or three times a year, wants to attack free personal care.

"This is very unfortunate, but the reality is that we are moving into an era where we will see real benefits from having free personal care, due to the change in demographics in Scotland.

"Currently, we have the freezing of the council tax in Scotland, which in my view is a tremendous misuse of scarce public funds. The money used to pay for the council tax freeze could provide additional funds for personal care. Cosla should provide more evidence for its stance on this issue. The Scottish Government is right that we need a national care service and we should look at integrating the local government function on this with the NHS if so many local councils are aggrieved by the policy."

Mr McLeish said local councils could do more to "raise standards" in the care provided to people across Scotland.He said: "The provision of personal care is extremely patchy in Scotland and perhaps Cosla could still look at how it can raise standards. There are tens of thousands of Scots who are frail and vulnerable and who greatly benefit from the policy and we need to look at how we can take the policy forward."

Meanwhile, in reforms that would cost the UK government about 1.7 billion a year, the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, headed by economist Andrew Dilnot, said the means-tested assets threshold should be increased from 23,250 to 100,000. The changes south of the Border would ensure nobody requiring residential care in retirement would have to spend more than 30 per cent of their assets paying for it.