Motion calls for an end to care charges for people with long-term health conditions.
A Scottish Parliament motion to explore making social care free for people with long-term health conditions has been welcomed by campaign groups.
Former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont will raise the issue at Holyrood on Tuesday, calling for an end to care charges for disabled people and those with conditions such as dementia and motor neurone disease.
Lamont will tell MSPs services are becoming increasingly expensive, with many of those affected struggling to meet the high cost of care.
Meanwhile, she will say, local authority charging regimes may be discriminatory in applying different rules to people of different ages. While personal care is free for those aged over 65, younger people with long-term conditions who require the same level of support often find themselves paying increasing amounts of their own income towards social care services.
There needs to be flexibility in the system to provide the support and care that is needed to families who are already going through a traumatic and deeply distressing time
The motion is supported by Scotland Against the Care Tax (SACT), an umbrella body representing more than 30 disability and social care organisations calling for an end to the care tax.
In a statement, the group said: “Social care is essential to many disabled people in order to assist them to participate in the lives of their families and local communities.
“SACT believes that social care charging demands that disabled people pay more than any non-disabled person to achieve the same basic human rights.
“In some instances, it can lead to a disabled individual deciding to forego much needed care and support; a decision that will entail, for many, significant risk of harm or further deterioration of an illness or condition.”
Inverclyde Council has also backed the motion on behalf of the Frank’s Law campaign.
Frank’s Law would see free personal care extended to anyone with dementia, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s or other degenerative brain diseases, regardless of age.
The campaign was started by Amanda Kopel, whose husband Frank died in 2014 aged 65, and eight years after being diagnosed with dementia. A former professional footballer with Dundee United, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United, Kopel was denied free care because of his age.
His wife said: “Instead of enjoying the last of Frank's years together, we had to struggle to get by paying his charges and eventually selling his football mementos and medals to pay the mortgage.
“If Frank had been over 65 when he developed dementia, most of his care would have been free.”
Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe said: “Free personal care has helped many thousands of patients and their families over the years but there is a very strong argument that it could do more.
“Degenerative diseases can strike at any time and are not necessarily triggered by old age. There needs to be flexibility in the system to provide the support and care that is needed to families who are already going through a traumatic and deeply distressing time.”
Amy Dalrymple, head of policy at Alzheimer Scotland, added: “We welcome the Frank’s Law campaign’s success in raising awareness of the impact of dementia on both the person with dementia and the partners, families and friends who care for them, including younger people with dementia who are under the age of 65.”
