Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2019
Liam McArthur is absolutely right—the report highlights that point and he also highlighted it in his speech.
The adult social care reform programme is looking at a range of areas to promote greater consistency and clarity, to ensure that those who need the care and support understand what the system can provide and the costs that that may entail.
I was pleased to confirm yesterday that the Scottish Government will continue its funding support for the nurse consultants in this financial year. The successful integration of health and social care support is crucial for people with dementia, to ensure that more people with the illness can stay at home or in a homely environment for longer; to avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital; and to ensure that they are discharged when they are ready to leave hospital.
I was also pleased to announce yesterday, at Alzheimer Scotland’s conference, that we will be funding and working with Inverclyde health and social care partnership to test how we deliver high-quality, integrated dementia care at scale. In addition, we are taking a range of actions to support this agenda, including extending free personal care for everyone under 65—including for people with dementia, of course—and implementing the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and the living wage.
I thank members for their contributions in what has been a measured and thoughtful debate. I welcome the contributions from across the political spectrum, which I hope are an indication of the cross-party consensus that we can have on helping to improve the lives of people with dementia and supporting their families.
Meeting closed at 17:55.