Scottish Parliament update January/February 2006

PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTIONS

Carer’s income
Christine Grahame (SNP – South of Scotland) asked the Executive whether it will instigate an income maximisation campaign for carers to increase benefit uptake and, if so, what steps it will take to introduce such a campaign.

Lewis Macdonald – Deputy Minister for Health & Community Care the UK Government, through the Dept of Work and Pensions (DWP), is responsible for social security benefits and maximising uptake. The Care 21 report ‘The future of unpaid care in Scotland’ calls, amongst other things, for a review of the benefit entitlements available to carers, and I have made DWP aware of this.

Under our Carers Strategy we are working with stakeholders to improve carer access to information and advice on sources of support, including financial assistance. An important strand here is the duties placed on local authorities and NHS Scotland by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002. The Care 21 report recognises that many of the necessary policy mechanisms are already in place, but that systematic implementation needs to happen Scotland-wide. We will be considering these matters further in our response to the report.

Older people care
Mary Scanlon (Con – Highlands & Islands) asked the Executive how it will ensure that adequate care beds and hospital treatment is provided for geriatric patients.

Lewis Macdonald services are delivered locally and it is therefore the responsibility of individual local authorities and NHS boards to determine and provide appropriate services to meet local needs and priorities from within the resources available. ‘Building a Health Service Fit for the Future’ and ‘Delivering for Health’ set a clear direction for the development of services in the future, including older people. We expect NHS boards and Regional Planning Groups to use them to deliver services and to drive their service improvement. The Range and Capacity Review Group is also looking at future care services for older people and investigating how services can be used as an alternative to long term residential care. They are considering a range of issues such as more flexible services, step-up and step-down, and preventative care of long term conditions. The group’s findings are due in the spring.

PARLIAMENTARY MOTIONS

Irene Oldfather (Lab - Cunninghame South) put forward this motion for debate in the Parliament

Alzheimer’s treatment in Scotland the Parliament notes the most recent guidance issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which recommends the use of the drugs donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine for use in the treatment of people with moderate Alzheimer’s disease in England and Wales; whilst welcoming this decision, regrets that no similar commitment has been made in respect of the availability of such drugs for people diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease; is disappointed that memantine has not been recommended for use at all, despite clinical evidence to suggest that it can benefit patients who have reached the severe stages of the disease; recognises the benefits of continued therapeutic and specialist nursing care in assisting Alzheimer’s sufferers to manage their condition; agrees that initiatives such as that implemented recently by NHS Ayrshire and Arran, whereby at least two nurses on all acute wards are trained specifically to manage patients with Alzheimer’s disease, are an effective means of aiding sufferers and their families; but believes, nonetheless, that donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine should be available to sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease in Scotland; is aware that NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) will now take the final decision on whether to allow these drugs to be prescribed in Scotland and therefore urges QIS to go further than the NICE recommendations and recognise the role and experience of clinicians and GPs in assessing the needs of the estimated 63,000 people in Scotland who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and calls for a degree of flexibility and discretion to be available to such practitioners in the prescribing of donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine, dependent on their evaluation of individual cases.

The motion received cross party support from the following MSP’s: Mr Duncan McNeil, Trish Godman, Mr Brian Adam, Patrick Harvie, Campbell Martin, Christine May, Mrs Nanette Milne, Mrs Mary Mulligan, Dr Elaine Murray, Mary Scanlon, Eleanor Scott, Margaret Smith, Mr Jamie Stone, Jackie Baillie, Shiona Baird, Cathie Craigie, Frances Curran, Phil Gallie, Christine Grahame, Robin Harper, Janis Hughes, Dr Sylvia Jackson, Rosie Kane, Carolyn Leckie, Marilyn Livingstone, Mr Kenneth Macintosh, Maureen Macmillan, Mr Frank McAveety, Alex Neil, Mike Pringle, John Scott, Tommy Sheridan, John Swinburne, Murray Tosh, Jean Turner, Ms Rosemary Byrne, Linda Fabiani, Mark Ballard, Cathy Peattie

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

Review of prescription charges
A private members bill proposed by Colin Fox MSP, the Scottish Socialist Party Convenor, to abolish prescription charges was defeated in the Scottish Parliament on the 25 January. However, the Scottish Executive has undertaken to review the system in response to complaints that the current system is unfair. A consultation document has been issued, to which Alzheimer Scotland will be responding.
The document is available at www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/30125542/0
Our summary of the consultation paper is available at www.alzscot.org/pages/policy/prescriptioncharges.htm
Any comments you would like to make on the consultation can be sent to Gillian Wilson at national office (gwilson@alzscot.org or 0131 243 1453) by 17 April.

Consultation on the strategy for a Scotland with an ageing population
The Executive will shortly launch a consultation on the implications for Scotland with an ageing population. It will cover:

• the opportunities for older people and the contribution they can make

• effective integrated services for older people

• promoting and maintaining health and well being

• and people living in accommodation and environments which continue to meet their needs and wishes as they age.

Free personal care report
A research report has recently been published on the funding and operation of long term care policy in Scotland. The research, carried out by Stirling University, focused particularly on the impact of free personal care (FPC). Their findings include:

• FPC has not reduced the level of informal caring. However, FPC at home supports informal carers and helps them provide other forms of care.

• The difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK in the public costs of personal and nursing care are smaller than popularly assumed. This is because people in care homes in Scotland no longer receive Attendance Allowance and payments for nursing care are fixed at £65 per week, whereas they can rise to £129 in England.

• Although the cost of FPC has been higher than initially predicted, their current value amounts to only 0.2% of Scottish Gross Domestic Product or 0.6% of Scottish Executive Spending.

• FPC and nursing care have improved equity, particularly for those with modest means and those with conditions such as dementia. However, some issues remain including benefit rules and care fees.

21st century review of social work
The 21st Century Social Work Review Group has recently published their recommendations for the future of social work in Scotland. The review was in response to criticism that services were not working well enough, financial pressures and the changing needs of the Scottish population. The recommendations of the report include:

• Better crisis prevention and early intervention

• Services more responsive to the needs of service users

• Greater focus on ongoing professional development for social workers.