UUP Motion on Free Personal Care for the Elderly wins Assembly Backing
Following today’s successful UUP motion in the Assembly today, Ulster Unionist Health spokesperson Rev Robert Coulter has voiced his hope that free personal care for the elderly can be introduced once devolution is re-established.
Speaking after today’s debate, the North Antrim MLA said: “By backing this UUP proposal, a marker has now been set down that a free personal care for the elderly package can be made a reality once a devolved executive is re-established here.
“In December last year, the UUP launched its policy paper on the issue. The case for free personal care for the elderly that we have put forward is strong, affordable and deliverable. It has the support of a great number of organisations and charities that deal specifically with the elderly and we believe it will get support from the public.
“This is an issue of dignity for older people – it’s about doing what’s right, and I am pleased that the Assembly has sent out a strong message on the issue.
“The current practice of people being forced by the State to sell their homes to pay for care is simply inappropriate for any decent society.
“The welfare state was never intended to penalise the many of modest means who have worked, paid their taxes, owned their own home and sought to pass on that inheritance to their children. Free personal care is a reform that will therefore return the welfare state to one of its key founding values – providing security and dignity in old age.”