Alzheimer society consider how the UK political parties election manifestos affect people with dementia
Thursday 15 April 2010
The Alzheimer Society has compared the three main UK political parties manifestos in relation to care and support, attendance allowance and dementia research.
The Conservative Party pledges to:
- a) Introduce a voluntary one-off insurance premium, at a suggested cost of GBP 8,000, to cover the costs of care in a care home, b) design a system to allow people to top-up this insurance premium to cover the costs of people receiving care in their own home and c)support people to live independently at home and have access to the person care they need
- Protect the attendance allowance
- Give dementia research (including Alzheimer’s) greater priority within NHS and Medical Research Council funding.
The Labour Party pledges to:
- Create a National Care Service which would involve a)the introduction of free personal care in the home for those with the highest care needs b)a cap on the costs of care charges in a residential care home after two years and c) the establishment of a Commission to reach consensus on financing the system and d) the establishment of a comprehensive National Care Service, free at the point of use, for all adults with an eligible care need
- Although not mentioned, in their recently published White Paper (Building the National Care Service) the government ruled out changes to the Attendance Allowance in the next parliament
- Dementia research was not mentioned in the manifesto, but there is a commitment to ring-fence the science budget in the next government spending review
The Liberal Democrat Party pledges to:
- a) Not implement the Free personal Care at Home Act, targeted at people with the highest care needs, but instead use the money intended for this scheme to provide respite care for 1 million carers and b)establish a Commission with cross-party political support to look into the long term future of social care, based on the principles of affordability, fairness and sustainability.
- The Attendance Allowance is not mentioned in their manifesto, but their spokesman has said that it will have a long-term future
- Prioritise dementia research in the health research and development budget.
For more information please see the Alzheimer society’s website at: