09 November 2001
A Mori poll commissioned by the public sector trade union Unison found that 75% of adults were in favour of the government providing free 'personal' or 'social' care for elderly people.
Personal care is defined as help with feeding, washing and dressing needed, for example, by elderly sufferers of Alzheimer's disease.
The figures were released at the launch of the Right to Care campaign group on November 6. The group is pressurising Whitehall to follow Edinburgh's example and implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care for the Elderly.
The Scottish Executive has abolished charges for personal care in the community from next April. It is introducing flat-rate payments of £65 a week for those needing nursing care and £90 a week for personal care.
Broadcaster Claire Rayner, a former nurse and a patron of the Right to Care campaign group, told Public Finance: 'It really is outrageous – the government ought to be blushing all the way down to their nipples. They've got money for wars. They've got money for nonsenses like that stupid Dome. They ought to find money for something that 75% of us across the board want. How can they possibly refuse?'
The campaigners criticised the government for dividing care into 'nursing', provided free on the NHS, and 'social' or 'personal' care which is paid for by the patient on a means-tested basis.
'The government has made a false division between nursing and personal care. When a patient is ill they need whole care and to chip off a great chunk of it and say: "Ah, well, this isn't nursing", is a totally arbitrary and false distinction,' said Rayner.
The Right to Care campaign is supported by more than 20 organisations including Unison, Help The Aged and the Patients' Association.
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