According to Harriet Dempster, President of the Association of Directors of Social Work, Scotland may not be able to afford the free personal care offered to the elderly, for long, with Scottish authorities being forced to scrap free universal health care for the elderly due to spiralling costs.

The nation’s top social worker believes the flagship devolution policy introduced in 2002 and regarded as an untouchable by politicians, is no longer affordable as the cost of free personal and nursing at £358-million rose 11% last year. With care for those who paid to be in residential care rising above £100-million a year, while home care almost doubled to £257-million.

Auditor General Robert Black in his report suggests scrapping free elderly health care to tackle Scotland’s finances’ potential black hole of almost £4-billion in by 2013. As per his estimates, the cost of free personal care that by 2011-12, may well total in the excess of £500-million, with Dempster, the Director of Social Work at Highland Council warning, recession induced public funding cuts combined with rising numbers of the frail elderly means, something has to give.

According to Dempster, before introducing the policy in 2002, everyone able to pay for care was requested to make a contribution, adding: ‘When we have an increased number of frail elderly and very vulnerable people, if we have short resources we want to ensure that the most vulnerable people, who are not in a position to make any contribution, get the services.’

Her comments reflect the growing concerns within council social work departments that they will be unable to pay for free care, even though the Scottish Government seems reluctant to review free personal care, insisting it was important to help the elderly in Scotland, allowing them to remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible.

The Scottish service helps 50,000 of the most vulnerable elderly people, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announcing plans of offering free elderly health care to 350,000 of the most needy people in England and Wales at a cost of over £600-million a year.