Campaign calls for free personal care

Charities, unions and campaigners have sent a statement to the
government urging it to give people in England, Northern Ireland
and Wales free access to both personal and nursing care, as now
happens in Scotland.

Signatories to the statement from the Right to Care campaign
include Age Concern England, Alzheimer’s Society, Arthritis
Society, Counsel and Care, NHS Support Federation, Radar, Mencap,
Leonard Cheshire, Help the Aged, the Royal College of Nursing and
Unison.

Paul Evans, director of the NHS Support Federation, an
independent pressure group, said: “Seventy-five per cent of the
public are in favour of free nursing and personal care.”