NO MORE CASH FOR ELDERLY CARE
“Demand for care packages has continued to outstrip the money available”
ARGYLL and Bute Council has become the first in Scotland to refuse to provide free care for the elderly.
The council claims that it has run out of cash and can no longer fund the programme, and by doing so is putting itself on a collision course with the Scottish Executive.
The news hit the headlines in the Herald on Monday, and the council are now faced with an investigation by the Social Work Inspection Agency, a ‘heavy team’ which will investigate the causes of the crisis.
Free care for the elderly is one of the Executive’s flagship policies which sets Scotland apart from the rest of the country.
However, the management of elderly care and support is within the remit of local authorities, and the level of cash allocated by the Executive to operate it has been a bone of contention for some time.
While Argyll and Bute is the first to declare its elderly care business effectively bankrupt, other councils in Scotland share its concern about financing what is a very expensive requirement.
The looming crisis is not new. Argyll and Bute MSP George Lyon has already crossed swords with council leader Allan Macaskill in the correspondence columns of this paper, and it is clear that the council and the MSP have entirely differing views on the size of the pot of cash available to support the elderly in Argyll.
Irrespective of the rights or wrongs of the situation, the knock-on effects are serious.
Both Inverclyde and Dunoon hospitals have experienced ‘bed-blocking’ brought about by their inability to release elderly patients because there is no support available for them at home - thus tying up beds, which adds to the NHS’ costs and also holds up the treatment of other patients.
So who’s responsible?
Does the blame lie with the Council, for keeping back cash which should be spent on elderly care - or is it the fault of the Executive for underfunding the programme?
It all depends on who you choose to believe.
George Lyon insists that the council has reserves of £15.2m on which it can draw, and is committing nearly half of that to a number of projects such as digital communities, which, says Mr Lyon, indicates to him that they have got their priorities badly wrong.
He claimed that the Scottish Executive’s allocation for Community Care in the last financial year was £33.9m.
These figures were refuted by Allan Macaskill and last week, before the story broke, Cllr Dick Walsh, part of whose remit is Social Services, outlined in some detail the problems which the council is facing.
He opened by criticising Mr Lyon for his constant references to council reserves: “He is well aware of the position,” said Cllr Walsh. “The whole issue has been explained to him in the most simple of terms on how he is wrong in his assessment of reserves. However, I would be more than willing to sit down with him as would the Council Leader and explain matters again to ensure that he can understand. The £7m that he refers to has long since being committed over recent years to priority areas of spend, many suggested by the Executive and for important initiatives where no funding was provided by them.”
The council also had to find some £4m to fund equal pay claim settlements because the Executive refused to fund any of this, blaming councils for the historic creation of the problem.
Mr Walsh claimed that since reorganisation in 1996 Councils, in particular Argyll and Bute, did not receive the level of funding required to deliver the services that they were expected to deliver.
He added: “It is the case that Argyll and Bute Council spends far in excess of the Grant Aided Expenditure provided by the Scottish Executive on Social Work Services and therein lies the problem.”
He insisted that this was not an issue that will be resolved by a “quick fix as Mr Lyon would appear to suggest by using fictional reserves”. Any reserves available could only be used as a ‘one off’ financial solution, but this would not address the ongoing cost requirements year on year. Quick fix solutions, he pointed out, did not resolve the problems with NHS Argyll and Clyde, serving only to exacerbate them.
He explained how the current crisis had developed: “The demands for Residential Care, Nursing Care and Community Care packages during January, February and March have had an unexpected and dramatic increase and this far exceeds the rises recorded for any previous year. We are working with our colleagues in health to establish the reasons for this and possible solutions.
“I publicly expressed my concerns regarding the likely impact on councils and council tax payers from the creeping changes that will follow the current policy approach to health by the Executive and others.
“We are now seeing the reality of this.
“The identified requirements now for Care needs in the Community are not being adequately funded and this will require to be addressed. Simply placing the blame on Councils is not a solution. We spend far in excess of the grants that we are provided and the solution here is additional resources or additional grant. The last thing we need is to deprive people of care packages when they need them most.”


New hope for Burgh Hall
TOP-level meetings have taken place in a last-ditch attempt to save Dunoon’s historic Burgh Hall.
The meeting follow efforts by the Hall’s owners, Fyne Homes, which launched a campaign in the Observer to seek a use for the 133-year-old building, which has become increasingly dilapidated over the last few years.
The publicity attracted the attention of the Strathclyde Buildings Preservation Trust, whose Chief Executive, Sarah MacKinnon, has held a series of meetings with her counterpart at Fyne Homes, Alan McDougall, to discuss what can be done to save the building, one of the few public buildings left in the centre of Dunoon of any historical significance.
They are now looking at the possibility of instigating an options appraisal to explore all the options for the future use of the property.
Over the next few weeks Ms MacKinnon will be bringing a representative of the Architectural Heritage Fund to Dunoon, with a view to putting in place a process which she hopes will lead to funding an appropriate project. Our hope is that a grant will be available from the fund.
Ms MacKinnon explained: “The aim of the Strathclyde Building Preservation Trust is to contribute to the retention of Scotland’s built heritage. We do that by undertaking projects alone or with partners which bring historic buildings and structures at risk back into beneficial use.
“In this way we hope to enhance the environment for people today and pass on this valuable record of our past to future generations.”
She added: “I’m pleased to be involved in trying to save Dunoon Burgh Hall. It’s an important building by an important architect, Robert Alexander Bryden.
“It’s also a key building for the town, and to lose it from the Dunoon streetscape would be appalling. It’s also highly popular with local people - in short, it ticks all the boxes and deserves to be saved.”
Fyne Homes, she said, had been ‘most co-operative....they, like us, would like to see a use found for the building that brings it back into use as a valuable addition to the community.”
Fyne Homes director Alan McDougall said that he was delighted with the Trust’s involvement, adding: “They are the experts at saving buildings like the Burgh Hall, and they have direct access to funding bodies.
“We already know that the people of Dunoon are firmly behind our quest to find a viable use for the building. As we’ve previously said, Fyne Homes are willing to receive offers from anyone with an established business plan that would serve the interests of the community. It is in our interests to secure the sale of the Burgh Hall, and to that end, Fyne Homes would be willing to accept a nominal sum.
“I’d like to thank the Dunoon Observer for giving us the platform to bring the future of the Burgh Hall to the fore, and I’m sure the publicity generated has been invaluable in attracting the attention of the Trust.
“Like everyone else involved, I look forward to a happy outcome for the Burgh Hall and the people of Dunoon.”


War veteran in blaze drama
Local pensioner Stan Scott was the hero of the hour when a blaze broke out in a flat opposite his home in George Street, Dunoon, on Monday evening
Stan, a sprightly 80-year-old, was alerted to the fire when a passer-by knocked on the door of his ground-floor house to tell him of the fire.
Stan explained what happened next: “I called the police and the fire brigade, and ran across the street to the scene of the fire. I could see flames coming from the first-floor flat, so I ran up the stairs. The occupant of the flat, an elderly lady, was trying to close the door. As I pulled her away the door blew off, and I led her down the stairs to safety.
“There was a great deal of smoke, and I don’t think she could have survived much longer in that atmosphere.”
Stan, who was still hoarse from the effects of the smoke the following afternoon, is well-known in Dunoon. Originally Polish, he changed his name after the war, in which he served with allied forces after escaping from the Nazis, who had used him as forced labour. Stan has recently finished writing a book of his experiences, which will be published in the near future.


More travel chaos as ferries break down
Car drivers and passengers in Dunoon and Gourock faced more travel disruption last week after CalMac was forced to cancel its car ferry service on Thursday.
Car drivers turning up at Dunoon Pier were met with a sign saying that there would be a “Passenger-only service until further notice.”
CalMac’s problems began on Wednesday afternoon with the cancellation of the ‘Ali Cat’ sailings to allow planned repairs to take place. This was followed the next morning by more mechanical trouble, this time with the ‘Saturn’.
CalMac spokesman Hugh Dan MacLennan said that last week’s problems had been caused by an exceedingly rare set of circumstances which involved two ships experiencing technical failures at the same time.
Mr MacLennan said that the sailing of the ‘Ali Cat’ had to be cancelled on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, when staff were readying the ‘Saturn’ for her first run of the day, a major mechanical fault was identified with the streaker, leaving the Dunoon - Gourock route with no ships to service it.
Mr MacLennan said: “Last week, we faced a situation which left us with two ferries with mechanical faults which prevented them from sailing. At the time, it was hoped that ‘Saturn’ could be fixed within a couple of days but, on further inspection, the fault was found to be more serious than was at first thought.
“We do have a spare streaker, the ‘Jupiter’, but she has been laid up for a number of months and it takes time to get ships ready for service.”
Mr MacLennan went on to explain that CalMac had then put the pleasure boat ‘Cruiser’ on the Dunoon - Gourock run, providing an hourly passenger-only service while repairs were carried to the ‘Ali Cat’.
He also confirmed that ‘Cruiser’ had been involved in an incident on Thursday which has left a small number of passengers with minor injuries
“While she was berthing at Gourock at around 11.20am on Thursday,” he said, “the ship experienced quite a heavy contact with the pier, causing a number of passengers, who were standing up waiting to disembark, to fall.
“CalMac arranged for four passengers, who had suffered mainly bruising, to be taken to Inverclyde Royal Hospital for treatment and I understand that another three or four went there themselves for treatment. All were discharged the same day, with none of the injuries being serious.
“CalMac then carried out an inspection of the vessel, and, after ascertaining that she had not suffered any major damage, she was returned to duty.”
Mr MacLennan said that CalMac had carried an investigation into the cause of the accident as had Clyde Marine Services, the operator of ‘Cruiser’.
He concluded: “Last week, CalMac experienced a very rare set of circumstances and we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience that this situation caused.”
It is predicted that ‘Saturn’ will be in dock for up to ten days for repairs and the ferry operator hopes that she will be fixed in time to take up her duties for the ten-week stint on the Arran run which is due to start on June 19. The streaker ‘Jupiter’ will continue to provide the car ferry service between Dunoon and Gourock.