Burstow launches parliamentary seminar into illegal home sales to pay for care of elderly people

12.00.00am GMT Tue 18th Mar 2003

Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Older People Paul Burstow MP will today host a seminar into the ongoing illegalities of continuing care that has seen the families of frail and vulnerable people being unlawfully forced by Local Authorities to sell their homes to pay for care.

The seminar, co-sponsored with Help the Aged is to be held in the House of Commons and will offer an open and non-partisan forum in which to debate the important issue of the role of the NHS in delivering long-term care to older people.

In addition to the speakers including former member of the Royal Commission on long term care, Claire Rayner, and Principal Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, Luke Clements, a number organisations and independent experts will be represented, including Age Concern, the Alzheimer's Society and the Royal College of Nurses.

Paul Burstow MP said:-

"Up and down the country the NHS has been using law-breaking rules to deny people their legal right to free care. Those rules were drawn up using poorly drafted guidance from the Department of Health. Local health authorities must now go back through past cases and compensate people who have been illegally charged.

"The Ombudsman has blown the whistle on what amounts to healthcare rationing by stealth. Frail elderly people in need of healthcare have been denied their right to NHS funded care.

"Three years after the Sutherland Commission reported on the issue, the Whatever happened to Continuing Care? seminar will begin to address the Commission's findings in light of subsequent policy and legislative developments."

Ends

Notes to editors

The seminar, is to be held in Room C, 1 Parliament Street in the House of Commons, will offer an open and non-partisan forum in which to debate the important issue of the role of the NHS in delivering long-term care to older people.

Three years after the Sutherland Commission reported on the issue, the "Whatever happened to Continuing Care?" seminar will address the Commission's findings in light of subsequent policy and legislative developments.

Two leading experts, Claire Rayner and Luke Clements, have agreed to lead discussion around the following issues:

• Free Continuing Care after the Health and Social Care Act

• The scope and limits of NHS Obligations and Services

• The Royal Commission on Long Term Care

• The effect of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges) Bill

In addition to the lead speakers a number organisations and independent experts will be represented, including Age Concern, the Alzheimer's Society and the Royal College of Nurses. The session will offer an important to opportunity to open a dialogue between Parliamentarians and experts in the field, and to discuss the core public policy issues at stake. Questions under consideration will include:

• How society can provide for long term health needs and what are the limits to services provided as public goods?

• Can there ever be a clear distinction between health care and social care and how far should people be expected to provide for themselves?

The seminar will take place according to Chatham House rules to promote open discussion.