Letter: Burden of care

My mother has been resident in a Southern Cross care home for almost five years and I, along with most other relatives, am deeply concerned about the standard and continuity of her ongoing care.

I fully understand that the overall picture is not yet clear but I would wish to comment on some of the facts stated in the your article (13 July).

I have mailed correspondence from Perth & Kinross Council, which states that "local authority-funded client's rate is 550.81 for nursing and has been since April 2010".

The above corrected local authority figure (550.81) is greater than that quoted by you (474.16), but this is still grossly below the level being charged to private residents.

I have previously been in correspondence with Southern Cross regarding this matter.

Since April 2011 my mother, as a privately funded resident, has been charged at the weekly rate of 830.94, well above the 750 quoted in the article.

The ratio of privately funded residents to local authority funded residents is such that, in my opinion, the proposed increase of charges on private residents could not hope to cover the suggested level of costs.

As such I feel it is imperative that a further review of the actual local authority payments is undertaken in order to maintain an appropriate care service, in accordance with the statements made by the Scottish Government.

Moira McKerracher

Stormontfield

Perth