THE SCOTTISH Executive this week looked set to delay its introduction of free personal care for the elderly for three months. The executive was meant to introduce free personal care this April. Now its introduction could be delayed until the autumn.
The delay is a betrayal of the 7,500 vulnerable elderly people in Scotland who will benefit from free personal care. The Labour-supporting Daily Record paper said, 'A delay until July is now a certainty.'
One 'senior executive source' is quoted in the Record saying, 'It would make more sense to postpone implementing free personal care for a year, or just pull the plug on it, but politically that might not be possible.'