Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2019
I congratulate Richard Lyle on securing the debate on his motion. I welcome the Alzheimer Scotland report, which is very helpful and lays out where we are and where we should be going.
When I was a local councillor in Edinburgh, I had the privilege of being a director of the Corstorphine Dementia Project and I saw the effects that early dementia had on individuals and families. Richard Lyle helpfully pointed out the definition of advanced dementia, which many people have. In many ways, one of the encouraging things is that people are now living longer with the condition, thanks to medical science, better care and a better understanding of the condition. Although people are living longer, that brings greater pressure—not necessarily on the person who has this horrible condition, but on their family, friends and others who are supporting them.
Richard Lyle pointed out the crux of the issue that the Parliament and our society need to consider when someone has advanced dementia: the care that is required and the cost of that care. I was interested to learn that the report calls not for social care charging to be abolished, but instead for equality. That is the crux of the problem.
As a former councillor, I believe that local authorities should be able to make their own decisions. However, if we read the report and look at what is happening across the 32 local authorities, there is no equality—instead there is difference in both the type of care provided and its cost. We need to have a grown-up debate about the extent to which we should set national standards and guidelines and the extent to which we should allow local authorities to make local decisions. That will be a difficult question to answer. Surely, in a country that covers a large geographical area but has a fairly small population, we need consistency. Whether I live in Orkney, Shetland, Dumfries or Edinburgh, the type of care that I get and its cost should be consistent.
As Richard Lyle said, there is a lack of transparency on web pages about what people need to do and what services are available. It must be possible to make information easily accessible to families when someone gets to the point at which they need care. We need to look at all those issues, and we need to do so quickly. I look forward to seeing what the Scottish Government proposes later this year. A balance must be struck between what is set by national Government and what is left to the 32 local authorities.
As we continue to design our social security system, we need to ensure that people with advanced dementia are not left behind in relation to people with other conditions, particularly in the context of the attendance allowance and the personal independence payment.
I congratulate Richard Lyle again and look forward to the rest of the debate.
17:21