Charity claims long assessment delays

Older people in Scotland are being forced to wait up to a year to
be assessed for free personal care, according to new research by
older people’s charity Age Concern Scotland.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “Waiting for an assessment is
taking too long in some areas. This could be used as a way of
rationing the provision of free care.”

However, a spokesperson for the Convention of Scottish Local
Authorities said the survey “was out of date and inaccurate”.

Deputy health minister Frank McAveety said: “We do not recognise
the negative picture painted in this report. We have closely
monitored the progress of free personal care jointly with Cosla and
implementation has been an overall success.”