01 June 2007
The Northern Ireland Assembly has resolved to introduce free personal care for elderly and disabled people, nine years after a royal commission recommended it.
But members stepped back from demanding the Executive implement the policy in the 2008/09 budget and instead ordered Health Minister Michael McGimpsey to examine its costs and delivery implications.
Like all the main political parties, McGimpsey's Ulster Unionists have a manifesto commitment to introduce free personal care. He told the Assembly on May 29 that asking infirm people to pay for the help they needed was 'punish[ing them] for the misfortune of ill health or disability'.
But he successfully argued that the policy could not be implemented before 2010. 'Free personal care will require legislation and public consultation which could take more than two years to complete,' he said. 'There are other options which could be introduced more quickly to address the unfairness in the system.'
The previous Assembly explored the cost implications in 2002 and found free personal care would cost around 1.85% of the Executive's health budget – up to £80m in today's figures.
But Iris Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party warned that in Scotland, where free personal care was introduced in 2002, demand had outstripped resources, leading to growing waiting lists for care.
PFjun2007
