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Meeting of the Parliament 09 June 2011

09 Jun 2011 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Caring for Scotland’s Older People

Sturgeon, Nicola SNP Glasgow Southside Watch on SPTV

I begin by doing what I failed to do yesterday when I spoke, which was to welcome Michael Matheson to his new role and to say how much I am looking forward to working with him.

I really welcome this morning’s debate on caring for Scotland’s older people—an issue that has been so prominent in the media of late. The issues that we will discuss today are of huge concern to older people and their families, so I welcome the opportunity to address some of those concerns and to exchange ideas on how we provide the quality compassionate care that our older people deserve, in a way that protects their dignity and independence and meets what I consider—I am sure that we all consider—to be our sacred duty as a civilised society. The issue is so important. Although scrutiny is absolutely vital, and notwithstanding the tone of the opening speech, I hope that we can all strive to keep party politics to one side and to work together to focus on the solutions that we need to find.

I largely accept the sentiments in the Labour motion. I lodged an amendment that I hope will be accepted because it attempts to reflect what I believe is the broad consensus around the need to improve care for older people and to provide a system that works in all cases.

Let me set out my stall clearly: I consider improving care for older people to be a personal priority. The responsibility for older people’s services now lies directly with me as health secretary, and that includes ministerial oversight of the inspection agency. Jackie Baillie asked legitimately: what is the substance of that personal commitment? I simply point out that the last time I said that about a specific issue was in the wake of the Vale of Leven hospital situation. In the period since, we have seen a 70 per cent reduction in Clostridium difficile cases. In caring for older people, we need that same focus on working with those on the front line.

Several issues about how we care for our most vulnerable people have hit the headlines recently. They are not connected, but they have added up to give the impression that all is not well in our care system. On the whole, we provide care generally well, but doing it generally well is not good enough. We must do well by every older person on every occasion in every setting.

It will come as no surprise to members that the first issue that I want to address this morning is the Southern Cross situation. As members are aware, Southern Cross has more than 90 homes in Scotland, housing between them more than 4,000 people. Clearly, the financial situation of a company such as Southern Cross is not within the control of Government. However, as members would expect, we are monitoring the situation closely with regular dialogue between my officials, the company and the Department of Health in England.

Although the finances of Southern Cross may not be the direct responsibility of Government, I make it clear that what is undoubtedly the responsibility of both national and local government is to ensure the quality and continuity of care for any affected older person. I realise that concerns about both of those aspects of care, as well as staff concerns about job security, will have been intensified by yesterday’s restructuring announcement by the company.

On Tuesday, I met the regional director of Southern Cross in Scotland to be updated on the latest situation and the attempts that the company will make over the summer to stabilise the situation. I sought his personal assurance that care quality in Southern Cross homes will not suffer as a result of the difficulties that the company faces. That assurance was forthcoming, but make no mistake—we expect it to be honoured.

Yesterday, I met the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to discuss the contingency planning that is being undertaken by local authorities and to stress, as Jackie Baillie was right to point out, the partnership approach to the situation that we are determined to take. I agreed with COSLA that we would formalise the national contingency planning group for adult care services. It will now report directly to me and to Councillor Douglas Yates, COSLA’s health and wellbeing spokesperson. The job of national and central Government, working together, is to ensure that whatever the final outcome for Southern Cross—which none of us can know at this time—we have plans in place to ensure the appropriate quality on-going care for all its residents.

I will keep members updated.

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Meeting of the Parliament 09 June 2011

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