Hume – Government has ‘wrong priorities’ on older people

Older people are being let down by the Scottish Government’s healthcare priorities, according to the Liberal Democrats.

The party pointed to official figures showing the number of geriatric beds is declining while emergency admissions continue to increase.

Lib Dem MSP Jim Hume said: “Older people are being let down by the Scottish Government’s wrong priorities. My figures show that at a time when people are living longer lives and for longer in periods of ill-health, the Scottish Government continues to slash the number of staffed beds for older people.

“This is despite the number of unplanned emergency admissions for people aged 65 increasing by around a fifth over the same period.

“With an ageing population it’s not necessarily surprising that emergency admissions for older people have increased.

“But the SNP government are cutting beds drastically without improving social care and support. This only puts more pressure on an NHS already being asked to do more with less.”

The average number of staffed geriatric beds was 7,229 in 2012-13, down from 7,500 in the previous year and reflecting a downward trend over a decade.

The number of admissions increased to 232,269 last year from 225,678 in the previous year, showing an upward trend over the decade.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government’s priorities for older people are to ensure that they can access the health and care services they need, either at home or in a homely setting.

“That’s why we’re committed to free personal and nursing care for the elderly, as well as protecting free prescriptions. To remove these vital universal benefits, as some have suggested, would be to the gross detriment of Scotland’s older people.

“We’ve already begun piloting projects across the country which look to see how older people’s services can be provided at home, or in the community. Our legislation to integrate health and social care will further embed this principle. Not least as no-one wants to be in hospital longer than they need to be.

“Since this Government came to office there has been an increase in NHS staffing levels, as well as a marked increase in the number of nurses working in the community. In addition, we’ve recently set out that each territorial health board will be receiving an above inflation increase in funding.

“We are already undertaking a wide-ranging programme to improve flow throughout the whole system, this helps ensure patients can be put in the most appropriate ward for their treatment should they require hospitalisation.

“We have invested £50 million in our unscheduled care action plan which is making improvements to the whole healthcare system to ensure patients can be seen and treated quicker.”