Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2014
No, thank you.
Directly linked to the issue is social care, which is one of the greatest scandals of our times. Our elderly and vulnerable friends and relatives are being cared for by staff who are desperate to care but unable to do so. Council budgets have been cut by 11 per cent, with authorities shackled, unable to raise money. The norm is 15-minute care visits and the sector pays the minimum wage, with carers staying in the job only until they can find a job elsewhere.
Recently, I met a young girl who got a social care job. She received four days’ training in an office and shadowed another carer for one and a half days, after which she was sent out on her own. On her first day, she had 30 clients to visit. The first was a man with a catheter; she did not know what it was, never mind how to deal with it. The next person she went to had a personality disorder and was abusive to her. Again, she did not know what to do. Her day went on like that. She was paid until 5 pm, but only finished her day’s work at 10 pm. She was rewarded with £5.13 an hour.
That is what we are doing to our elderly loved ones and to the young carers of the future. What is the Government’s response to that situation? Last week, the First Minister week announced that an extra £5 million would be put in place to deal with delayed discharges but that councils would have to match fund the Government’s contribution.
What planet is the First Minister living on? Council budgets are being hammered by the Government, and services are closing, jobs are being lost and assets are being sold. Can the cabinet secretary give me and our councils some idea of where the money will come from? I will give way if she can tell us where it will come from.