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Reshaping care for older people
24/03/2010
Scotland must prepare for a huge rise in the older population over the next twenty years - and once again take the lead on how older people's care is delivered.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison today launched Reshaping Care for Older People by reiterating the government's commitment to free personal care, urging Scots to consider future care for older people alongside climate change and the economy as one of the country's top priorities.
Population predictions mean that while free personal care is an absolute commitment guaranteed by the Scottish Government, the ways in which older people's care is delivered must change significantly over the next two decades. If current models of care are sustained, the present care budget of £4.5 billion will need to rise by £1.1 billion by 2016 and £3.5 billion by 2031.
In partnership with Scotland's local authorities and involving the voluntary and private sectors, the programme will include a series of public meetings around Scotland. These will see the future challenges and possible solutions shared with a much wider audience, including older people.
The programme was launched at the Madelvic Square sheltered housing complex in Edinburgh, where investment in new technologies allows older people to live independently with conditions that previously may have meant admission to residential care.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison said:
"Let me be absolutely clear - we are firmly committed to free personal care, and to making sure every older person who needs care gets it. But our older population is likely to increase by around two thirds in the next two decades, and as a country we will need to change the ways in which we deliver care.
"Now is the time to have this national debate. Scotland has already been ahead of the game in introducing free personal care - we need to be bold once again and we are free to do so, since health is devolved and not tied to any possible Westminster restrictions. The solutions are there but we must start taking action now, and that action has to be radical.
"Scotland's older people are an asset to this country. They contribute to society far more than they receive and the vast majority - 89.5 per cent of over 65s - receive no formal continuing care at all. Indeed, many provide a great deal of unpaid care. But we have to wake up to the enormous challenges that lie ahead.
"Around 90,000 older people receive some kind of care - in their own homes, a care home or long term hospital care. Estimates suggest our older population is going to rise by 21 per cent between 2006 and 2016, and by 62 per cent come 2031. More of the same would mean an extra 23,000 people needing care by 2016.
"Together with growing our economy and tackling climate change, preparing for an increasingly ageing population is one of our biggest national challenges. It is a challenge not just for government, the NHS or social care, but for every single one of us."
Ms Robison visited the homes of two older people who benefit from telecare devices that enable them to continue living alone, including:
- Vibrating "rumble" pillows to alert hard of hearing residents to fire alarms
- Electronic reminder alerts to take medication, with carousel dispensers
- Motion sensors to detect when someone has been in one position too long and may have fallen
- Emergency pendants to summon help in a crisis
Madelvic Square resident Thomas Smail explained to the Minister how telecare supports his continued independence:
"I am very happy living here. I feel safe and secure in the knowledge that I have support there if I need it.
"The telecare equipment especially is a great help; among other things I have a vibrating pillow and a medicine carousel - these are both invaluable to me because they make life easier and safer as well.
"This is my home, I'm independent and I come and go as I please. But I always feel very safe knowing that there are people to help me just outside the door."
The Minister added:
"Technology can allow people to continue living independently when they might previously have had to go into a residential home. We know that is by far the preferred choice for older people - making telecare an important potential solution to the challenge we face.
"But we need to consider how we expand telecare, what technologies we must invest in, how else to help people stay out of institutional care wherever possible and how to provide better anticipatory and preventative care.
"These are issues for every family in Scotland. This is change that will have to happen over two decades, and it will affect us all. Reshaping Care for Older People is an opportunity to start thinking about how we need to change, to ensure we can continue caring for our older people to the high standards they rightly expect."