PM says elderly care a “priority”
Improving the care available for the elderly will be Labour’s domestic policy “priority” if it wins the next election, Gordon Brown said.
In an article for the Daily Mail, he said that the current system was not “fit for purpose”, and that Labour will propose free care at home for 280,000 of the frailest people and help for others to stay in their homes. Mr Brown also said how a country looked after its elderly was a “hallmark of a civilized society”.
A rapidly ageing population and higher expectations of care meant policymakers were now facing a bigger challenge that ever before.
“We will begin to set out our bold plans for reform because our current system is simply not fit for purpose,” he wrote. “It is not right that people already struggling with the loss of independence, who have worked hard all their lives, saved for their retirement, are being forced to run down their savings or sell their homes to fund their care.”
But the Conservatives described the as “confused and short on detail”. They said they did not address the needs of the thousands of people already in residential homes and those likely to enter them in the future.Many pensioners have been forced to use up their entire savings and, in some cases, sell their homes to pay for care.
In his conference speech in September, Mr Brown announced plans for a new service across England providing free care for the most needy.
Mr Brown said proposals in the Queen’s Speech – which traditionally outlines the government’s legislative programme for the year ahead – would “protect those with the greatest needs” from having to pay for their care while enabling them to stay in their own homes.
The government will also pledge to provide six weeks of at home personal support for about 130,000 people who have not previously received assistance, Mr Brown added.
“This is just a first step,” Mr Brown adds.
“In the New Year we will publish detailed plans for a new National Care Service and I am clear that this will be the first domestic priority of a new Labour government.”
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