Is it time to move to Scotland?

I write blogs each day and I publish them in the early hours of the following morning. So there has been 24 hours since I wrote yesterday's blog and I have had time to think about it. I cannot believe how gentle I was with Gordon's announcements about care homes. Alright I have a vested interest in that I am a deputy manager in a care home, but I am also in the privileged position to recognise the need for these homes. I also recognise that in the future we will have an increasing need for these homes. I am lucky in the sense that there is a waiting list for places in my home, so this is not a personal point but many others are not so lucky. I am not writing this blog to defend my home. It doesn't need defending. However we do have an ageing population and we have to move in the direction of supporting such homes as extra care will be needed.

Yesterday I emphasised the difference between Scotland and England. Today I want to emphasise the need for such homes. I presume that the announcement that those in greatest need will have free care at home means those in greatest financial need. If it means physical, social and psychological need then they will need a care home. So let's take it that Gordon meant financial need. What we will find is that if a care home is needed then more persuasion will be required. How do you take someone out of their house into a home where they may have to sell their house? Perhaps Gordon is not spending much and this headline-grabbing announcement actually means nothing. They may have no savings and no house to sell, but let's presume that it does mean something. Headlines will still be written about the elderly selling their homes in order to receive a place in a residential home.

I was sure that Labour's only hope of gaining some votes was to appeal to voters and put the English on a par with the Scottish. It may be time to move to Scotland.

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