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So who pays for care of elderly?
By: Lucy Ward
The Guardian, March 10, 2001
Gordon Brown's refusal to tackle the thorny issue of who will pay for the care of the elderly is unlikely to cost the Labour Party many votes, but it still ranks as one of the major election promises trumpeted by Tony Blair last time around that has somehow been sidelined, writes Phillip Inman.
While the Scots have gone ahead and pumped cash into a scheme that will provide all forms of care to the over 65s without charge, pensioners in England and Wales too frail or sick to look after themselves must pay for their care in residential homes and their own homes if their assets amount to more than £18,000. Many of the two million pensioners eligible for income support benefit or living in rented accommodation will therefore receive care services free.
Following a Royal Commission report in 1999 that recommended free nursing and personal care for the elderly, the government chose instead to follow a rival report written by two dissident members of the commission who said only nursing care should be provided free. Ministers said free nursing care would apply from October this year. They added that nursing care could only be provided by a registered nurse. More commonly provided services by nursing assistants - even under the delegation and supervision of a registered nurse - will count as social care and must be paid for by the pensioner.
Mervyn Kohler, of Help the Aged, says the government has shied away from tackling the issue head on. "He shows no willingness to put public resources into the vital area of long-term care, which is a frighteningly expensive lottery of need which touches one in five older people."
The average age of a pensioner entering a residential home these days is 85, which means that most people will spend their retirement in their own home and need low-level care that is nonetheless expensive. It has been estimated that providing care services free to all elderly people would cost the government £1.1bn.
This week, shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox bit the bullet and said that while he would match Labour's commitment to provide free nursing care for the elderly, he would seek better ways of funding long-term residential care.Dr Fox estimated that over the last four years, 160,000 people have been forced to sell their properties to finance residential care.
"To bring to an end the unacceptable asset-stripping of our elderly citizens, we will reward individual responsibility, and those who make reasonable provision for themselves," he said.
Dr Fox suggested that people who make their own provision to pay for up to £20,000 of residential care costs - roughly the average cost of such care - would be indemnified by the state if their stay in residential care proved to be longer and more expensive than the average. He claimed that would protect them against having to run down their assets to £18,000. Help the Aged, meanwhile, believes the government should follow the advice in the Royal Commission and pay for all care services. |
