Brown: 'Elderly will be our priority'

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A re-elected Labour government would improve care for elderly people, the Prime Minister has said.

Claiming that the policy would be a priority if Labour won another term, Brown described the current system as not "fit for purpose" and repeated his claim that 280,000 elderly people would get free care at home, although the criteria for receiving such care are still not clear.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Brown said: "We will begin to set out our bold plans for reform because our current system is simply not fit for purpose. It is not right that people already struggling with the loss of independence, who have worked hard all their lives, saved for their retirement, are being forced to run down their savings or sell their homes to fund their care."

He went on: "In the New Year we will publish detailed plans for a new National Care Service and I am clear that this will be the first domestic priority of a new Labour government."

However, the Conservatives noted that Brown had reduced the number of people who would get free care from the 350,000 previously reported. Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley also claimed that the new National Care Service would be funded by disability benefits being removed from over 2.5m pensioners.

"While we want to help people stay in their homes for as long as possible, Labour's policies are confused and short on detail," Lansley said. "Labour's plans are all about political point-scoring, not the long-term care of older people."