Tuesday, July 19
BELL LASHES GOVERNMENT'S CALLOUS PENNY-PINCHING TOWARDS THE ELDERLY
Billy Bell MLA, Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for Lagan Valley said today that government should have a statutory duty to look after old people and pay the full economic cost of caring for the elderly.
His comments come after it was revealed that there were 2,000 people in Northern Ireland who should be entitled to free state care - but whose families were paying out every week for "top-up fees" to private residential homes.
“How a country looks after its old people is an acid test of how civilized that country is and, at present, this Government is failing that acid test,” said Mr Bell.
“Government should really be paying for the full economic cost of care for the elderly and not simply paying a contribution towards the cost of that care,” added the MLA.
“If the Government have left the job of caring for the elderly largely to the private sector, thereby ducking their primary responsibility, that does not mean they can walk away from supplying the proper cost of that care.”
“The Government are trying to drive down the costs of care, by arriving at an economic figure they are willing to pay for the care of these old people. This does not match the actual cost and families and relatives are suddenly finding themselves faced with bills to make up for the shortfall. I would doubt if the actual costs are unduly high in private sector care homes where efficiency is the watchword. What we have to ask now is – how does the government arrive at the figure they are willing to pay for the care of an elderly person ?” said Mr Bell.
“When I consider, in my capacity as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the last Assembly, the prodigious waste of taxpayers money by various Government Departments here, for all sorts of pet schemes and for consultancy, I am staggered at the callous penny pinching and indifference shown towards the elderly,” said Mr Bell.
His comments come after it was revealed that there were 2,000 people in Northern Ireland who should be entitled to free state care - but whose families were paying out every week for "top-up fees" to private residential homes.
“How a country looks after its old people is an acid test of how civilized that country is and, at present, this Government is failing that acid test,” said Mr Bell.
“Government should really be paying for the full economic cost of care for the elderly and not simply paying a contribution towards the cost of that care,” added the MLA.
“If the Government have left the job of caring for the elderly largely to the private sector, thereby ducking their primary responsibility, that does not mean they can walk away from supplying the proper cost of that care.”
“The Government are trying to drive down the costs of care, by arriving at an economic figure they are willing to pay for the care of these old people. This does not match the actual cost and families and relatives are suddenly finding themselves faced with bills to make up for the shortfall. I would doubt if the actual costs are unduly high in private sector care homes where efficiency is the watchword. What we have to ask now is – how does the government arrive at the figure they are willing to pay for the care of an elderly person ?” said Mr Bell.
“When I consider, in my capacity as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the last Assembly, the prodigious waste of taxpayers money by various Government Departments here, for all sorts of pet schemes and for consultancy, I am staggered at the callous penny pinching and indifference shown towards the elderly,” said Mr Bell.
posted by Press Office at Tuesday, July 19, 2005
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