As the prime minister pledges to make social care for the elderly fairer, BBC News correspondent Jon Leyne recalls his mixed experiences of NHS care after his mother fell at home.
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VOLUNTARY organisations yesterday launched a scathing attack on the politicians and officials who run Aberdeen City Council.
On the final day of a hearing by the accounts watchdog into the authority’s “precarious” financial plight, charities united in condemning the council for losing the confidence and trust of the people of the city.
They claimed the ruling Liberal Democrat and SNP administration was guilty of failing to negotiate, consult or communicate with key agencies amid an atmosphere of mistrust and a “bullying” culture.
And Paul Hannan, the head of one leading city charity, said: “We want change – change away from the many bad practices that blight Aberdeen City Council.”
Mr Hannan was giving evidence on the second day of a hearing by the Accounts Commission, chaired by John Baillie, into the council’s finances. He is chief executive of the Cyrenians, a charity for the homeless, which is one of the voluntary-sector organisations hit by the council’s £27 million spending cuts.
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A groundbreaking study of Scots’ DNA is being launched to discover why the nation has the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world.
It is hoped the research, which involves scouring the genes of hundreds of people, will explain why patients contract the devastating disease and help the development of new treatments.
The populations of Orkney and Shetland are the focus of the investigation as MS is more common in the two island communities than anywhere else.
Residents who suffer from the illness will be asked to give blood, as well as locals who have no history of the disease, so scientists can compare the samples.
They hope to untangle the genetic code which makes people vulnerable to MS and see if their blood responds differently to a virus which it is thought might trigger the illness.
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People may have to pay into a compulsory social insurance scheme to contribute towards the costs of care in old age under proposals floated by the government yesterday.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, said he would produce a green paper early next year on dealing with the long-term problem of providing adequate non-medical care for a growing number of vulnerable older people.
Over the next 20 years the number of people over 85 in England will double and the number over 100 will quadruple. Nearly 2 million more people will need social care support including help with dressing, washing, shopping and eating.
Johnson said he wanted a national debate on how much the government, individuals and families should pay towards meeting the social care bill, which is expected to rise from £12.7bn last year to £24.1bn in 2026 and £40.9bn in 2041.
He said people wanted to be confident that they would get adequate support without having to sell the house for which they had “scrimped and saved” throughout a working life. But the system of free personal care that was introduced in Scotland had been found to be unaffordable.
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THE death of a mental health care home manager found dead in bed with one of his patients is still shrouded in mystery – two years later.
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City College Plymouth is hosting an event to encourage men to enter caring professions traditionally dominated by women.
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Two more council residential homes for the elderly were today earmarked for the axe to complete a hit-list of six closures.
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More than 5,000 extra foster carers need to be recruited in the UK this year to stop children being shunted from home to home and split from their siblings, a charity warned today.
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The minister for care services has announced new funding for research into adults with autism. Ivan Lewis announced the £500,000 research will inform the first ever government strategy on the disease among adults and their specific needs.
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A judge has criticised social workers for not helping a young mother who killed her two-year-old daughter.
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