BMJ 1999;318:622 ( 6 March )

News

UK commission recommends new ways to fund care of elderly people

John Warden, parliamentary correspondent , BMJ
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Royal Commission on Long Term Care for the Elderly-set up when the Labour government came into power in the United Kingdom-has called for a fairer way of paying for the care that many elderly people require.

The royal commission's report, which is published this week, has proposed implementing a split between living costs and care costs. This split would allow personal care and nursing care to be provided free of charge but people would contribute to the costs of their room and board according to their means. The cost to the Exchequer has been estimated at up to £1200m ($1920m) each year.

The health secretary, Frank Dobson, will make no commitment to any of the report's recommendations until there has been a period of "informed debate" and a search for a new national consensus; his reaction disappointed groups representing elderly people.

For now, the present system of means testing . . . [Full text of this article]
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