Hansard

Four years ago, I sat around this table with Dorothy-Grace Elder, Duncan Hamilton and other members of the Health and Community Care Committee and drew up the top 10 priorities for health in Scotland. Far ahead of everything else, our agenda was led by care in the community. Since then, the Health and Community Care Committee has dealt with the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, which set up the Scottish Social Services Council, and we have just finished stage 2 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Bill. We also made a commitment to monitor the implementation of care in the community. Given that the new policy was started only on 1 July last year, it would have been petulant to start jumping up and down at the time, because anything so new was obviously going to have teething problems. Now, nine months after implementation, I am seriously worried about what is happening. I spoke to a lady in the demonstration outside who said that her mother had been moved six months ago from another home. I know the trauma that is caused to old people who are moved.The Scottish Parliament has introduced new regulations with which we all agree—apart from the one that resulted in water rates bills of £8,000. Amendments to policy—such as ensuring that there is a nurse in every home, better training and higher standards—will help people at the end of their lives to live with dignity and respect. We look for the same standards across Scotland. As a member of the Scottish Parliament who represents the Highlands and Islands, I could not even find Cockenzie in East Lothian. Although the petition mentions Cockenzie House in particular, the same problems apply to every care home in Scotland, except council care homes. The councils pay £150 more per person per week. Council care homes have no worries about meeting regulations, employing nurses or providing en suite bathrooms. That is why the situation is unfair. The private and independent sector is being starved of funds.The situation is bad enough for the elderly people. I will not repeat what Christine Grahame has said. In the past year, 15,800 people in Scotland turned up for surgery at hospitals only to be turned away because of a lack of beds. There were no beds because more than 3,000 beds were blocked. About 3,000 beds are still blocked, in spite of the injection of millions of pounds. In the Highlands, the number of blocked beds is increasing. The blocking is not the fault of the people in those beds. The beds are being blocked because councils are refusing to fund care. Residential care homes are closing every week.Every time I speak about the issue in the Parliament, members say that those who run care homes are in it for profit. Even the Church of Scotland, which is taking money from its social fund and its collections, cannot break even—it had to close homes last year. Similarly, the Salvation Army, which does not run care homes for profit, cannot break even. The people who run care homes are simply trying to break even. I have looked at the bank balance of a care-home owner in Fort William. She is getting a loan up to the cost of the care home. When her overdraft reaches the price of the home, she will be closed down. That is the situation that many care-home owners in Scotland face.The figure given on the yellow placard that protesters outside the Parliament were holding—£465—is not unreasonable. It is certainly very reasonable in comparison with what councils pay their homes. The figure is supported by Which? magazine and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Although I am speaking in support of a petition on Cockenzie House, the points that I make are general. Every member of the Health and Community Care Committee expressed their commitment to consistent standards of care throughout Scotland. There is a two-tier system in which councils, which are given far more money than everyone else, turn round and criticise others for profit making, not having enough staff and paying their staff less. If every home were paid the same per patient to achieve the same quality standards, private care-home owners could pay their staff more, provide more training and meet all the obligations that the Parliament has set. I ask the committee to consider the petition not just in relation to Cockenzie House, but in relation to every care home in the independent sector in Scotland.