A leading councillor’s mother has been waiting to leave a Perthshire hospital for around three weeks because care workers were unable to support her to return home.
Councillor Grant Laing, SNP, said his mother’s story highlights lack of capacity in the care at home sector. The issue is particularly pronounced in rural areas, such as the village of Spittalfield where she lives.
Mr Laing, who represents the Strathtay ward and is the convener of the council’s scrutiny committee, said his elderly mother, who he didn’t wish to name, recently suffered a fall but had now recovered and wished to return home.
The lack of a care package – the arrangements and staffing required to support a person in their own home – was preventing her from doing so.
He said: “My mother has been waiting for a care package for around three weeks. And the lady in the bed next to her has been waiting for more than a week.
“I use my mother’s situation as an example, but my concern is for all elderly people in the area whose hospital discharge is being delayed because of a lack of capacity.”
Mr Laing said poor performance in rural areas was down to the council’s care at home model – where services are outsourced to other providers.
“We have been very good in outsourcing our services in this area, but that is not something we should be trumpeting about. It is a service that is failing people in rural areas.
“I have said this since we started to outsource these services. Providers will cherry pick. It is easier to do four people in a street in Blairgowrie or Perth rather than drive out to Spittalfield.”
He said the care sector – which employs 250 EU nationals locally – was already suffering from staffing shortages and there was a real prospect Brexit could worsen the situation.
“If even 20% of them want to go home, that is 50 people that we won’t be able to replace,” he added.
A Perth and Kinross spokeswoman said the Health and Social Care Partnership was working with providers to improve the access to care at home services and had developed an improvement plan.
“Key to this is exploring other ways of improving recruitment to care at home services, a particular issue within Perth and Kinross with its rural area and fuller employment.
“We recognise the challenge of delivering care to people in the rural areas. There has been some improvement over the last year in their ability to deliver care to people.”
She said only 29 EU nationals in Perth and Kinross worked specifically in the care at home sector, rather than in the wider care sector, and feedback suggested they were keen to stay after Brexit.
