Social work chiefs under fire over OAPs’ care

Highland Council social work chiefs have been accused of using elderly people moving into care homes as pawns in a drive to head off a projected £3.4million-plus overspend.

MSP Mary Scanlon hit out yesterday after it was revealed that local authority funding packages currently exclude referrals to homes run by the private or voluntary sectors.

Mrs Scanlon condemned the “interim” measure as callous and called for its early scrapping.

The change does not affect the minority who are able to pay for the home of their choice.

It has, however, affected people who have completed their treatment in hospital and are being lined up for a public-subsidised place in a care home.

Regardless of their preference, social workers are at present only able to offer them a stay in a council-run home

Jon King, the council’s head of operations community care, said: “The council has not changed its policy, but is striving, in partnership with NHS Highland, to manage a very difficult budget situation.

“We remain committed to working within that partnership to address delayed discharge from hospital and this will, wherever possible, include the offer of alternative interim placements in vacancies in our own homes or provision of additional care to enable people to remain in or return to their own homes.”

Mrs Scanlon, the Scottish Conservative’s health spokeswoman, said: “In order to give elderly people dignity and peace of mind, they and their families should at the very least be given choice where they spend their latter years. It’s callous and cruel to deny them choice. Moving them around like pawns in a financial game is simply not acceptable.”

Mrs Scanlon said that it also costs about £200 a week more in a council home than one run by the independent or voluntary sector.

Eileen Wilson, Inverness-based field manager with Age Concern and Help the Aged in Scotland, said “interim measures” when it comes to care rarely suited older people.

She said: “They don’t want to go to a home knowing it is likely only to be a temporary solution.

“They obviously want to go to a home of their choosing.

“For people who are old and frail, temporary stays can be very unsettling.”

Dr Ian McNamara, chairman of the Highland Senior Citizens’ Network, said: “We would also generally advocate against temporary solutions when placing elderly people in care.”

A council spokesman said: “Community care managers have been given advice in light of the severe budget restraints to fill vacancies in our own homes where we employ staff.

“It makes sense to make the placement there rather than buy care in a private or voluntary-run home.”

The current interim measure, he added, would be reviewed at the housing and social work committee next Wednesday.