PEOPLE WHOSE lives are directly affected by the care system in Scotland had a chance to shape future legislation at an event in Perth yesterday.

The Scottish Parliament’s health committee left the capital to hear the views of 100 professionals and consumers of care services to decide what issues the forthcoming Care Inquiry should focus on.

“We must consult the people who matter—it is important that you are being heard,” committee convener Roseanna Cunningham told the audience at the Station Hotel.

Ms Cunningham said that along with the other MSPs of all parties present, she hoped to hear the views of the people who receive care and the professionals who organise it.

Before the meeting broke into workshops which had been given the task of identifying “hot topics” which the inquiry should address, the delegates heard from speakers representing the perspective of older people, the disabled and carers.

Nell McFadden, a 78-year-old great grandmother from Inverclyde, has taken part in many forums for the elderly.

She said she welcomed the inquiry and hoped it could add to the choice available to the elderly in need of care.

She acknowledged it was a very complex and wide-ranging issue, but pointed out that helping to maintain people in their own homes can often be far more cost effective than them entering residential care.

This was much preferred by the elderly, and statistics for her own area revealed that more people could be cared for at home for less money than the residential route.

Mrs McFadden also called on the care service provision to be as flexible as possible.

She was pleased to note that moves were being made to allow older people to employ close relatives —using care funding—to assist them. “Many older people would prefer someone they know rather than a stranger,” she said.

The other speakers were Pam Duncan from Glasgow, who gave the disabled person’s view, and Isobel Allan, who cares for her daughter with severe learning difficulties.

Yesterday’s event marked the start of the Care Inquiry, which is expected to run through the autumn and into next spring.