Older Scots to get free, long term care

The Scottish Executive is planning to fund a full package of long term care for elderly people in a move which will give older people in Scotland a better deal than their counterparts in England and Wales. It is expected to increase pressure on politicians at Westminster to introduce similar changes.

Scotland's newly elected first minister, Henry McLeish, has announced that the Executive is planning to implement in full a Royal Commission report on the care of elderly people which recommended that the state should pay all medical and personal care costs for older people. Such a move has already …