Free Personal Care for the Elderly must be Assembly Priority - Carson
Cllr Angus Carson, UUP Assembly election candidate for Strangford, has said the introduction of free personal care for the elderly must be a number one priority for the next Assembly.
Cllr Carson said:
“The increase in home ownership in Northern Ireland has meant that many older people do not now qualify for free personal care which in turn has placed a heavy burden on many families who struggle to provide such care at home because they are unable to afford the high cost of residential care.
In addition many, who have to seek residential care, find that funding it means selling the home which they had intended should be an inheritance for their children.
This current policy fails many people of modest means who spent a lifetime working and paying their taxes. Penalising people in this way was not what the welfare state intended and the introduction of free personal care will return it to one of its founding values.
The Scottish Parliament has introduced free personal care for the elderly thus proving that not only can it be done but can be financed as well.
Introducing free personal care into Northern Ireland will cost between £40 and £50 million which amounts to 1.85% of the Northern Ireland health budget and is not an impossible sum to find if the will is there to find it.
In the Assembly the watchwords should be Welfare, Security and Dignity. The immediate introduction of free personal care for the elderly will contribute to achieving those goals.”