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Dementia Services

We have heard the policy of the Opposition Front Bench. The hon. Member for Bosworth (David Tredinnick) used the analogy of pudding in relation to certain speeches. The Opposition's policy seems a bit like a jelly: it can take any shape, it can be colourless, and it can be moulded in any way they want. We can never be quite sure what is there. Having heard their attempts at policy, I think it would be helpful if they were to inform the House about what action they would take. It is appropriate to judge political decisions on changes to systems and laws, and on priorities relating to the allocation of resources, according to experience and to what people actually do. I cite as my example the county council of Nottinghamshire. Since June, it has been Conservative-run. Not only that, but three of the county councillors wish to become Members of this House at the next election. Nottinghamshire county council therefore represents a microcosm of what Conservative policy on dementia care would be, because we can see what is happening in that county and my own constituency now, before the election. The Conservative administration in Nottinghamshire, led by the appropriately named Councillor Cutts and backed by the non-executive cabinet members—all of whom, coincidentally, happen to be prospective parliamentary candidates for the Conservative party—have put forward policies on dementia care, and those policies involve cuts. They wish to privatise residential care. In my area, that involves James Hince Court, a specialist residential dementia care centre in Carlton in Lindrick. It is an excellent centre. It could do with a little more refurbishment, but the quality of care, the professionalism of the staff and the responsiveness to the families are all superb. It has been externally validated as being superb, and my observation and that of the families involved is that it is superb. A second example is Westwood. It is a very new facility in my constituency, which deals not exclusively but partially with dementia care. The Tory administration wishes to sell it off to the private sector. A third example is St. Michael's View. I was there last Friday at a meeting of residents—some suffering from the early stages of dementia and some the later stages—and they and their families are unanimous that that excellent facility should remain in the public sector. Why do they oppose the plans of that Tory administration—those would-be sitters on Conservative Benches? The reason is simple: they have experienced the private sector. Most of them moved from the private sector into the public sector. Strangely, private sector care homes have a lot of vacancies; one in my constituency has 31 vacancies. However, there are waiting lists, including of people I know, to go into the three excellent public sector centres, as there are for the other ones in Nottinghamshire. Having sampled, tried, felt, known and paid the private sector, people prefer to go into the public sector. The second reason why people prefer public sector homes to private sector ones is that the private sector does not provide a day care facility, where people come in, have a cup of tea and use the expert provision of the staff, but do not stay overnight or pay anything significant towards the overheads. For the private sector, that does not pay. Some of our memory clinics, as they are called, are in public sector residential care centres, where properly trained, expert staff also provide specialist dementia care in a day care facility. That is why families like those centres and are adamantly against Tory privatisations, or, if they cannot be privatised, closures—that will undoubtedly follow from their spending plans. What is the response to a major public campaign led by families against such absurd privatisations and day care cuts? Those Tories—would-be Tory MPs and others—propose in their budgets to increase significantly, by about 60 or 70 per cent., the cost of going to day care. They want to cut meals on wheels in the same way—by increasing prices. As has been outlined, they want to cut many other services relevant to dementia care, such as 20 specialist occupational therapist posts. Those are vital jobs that support the elderly and those with dementia. That is the Tories in action. That is what we will see should there be a Tory Administration nationally. What is the Tories' response to the public outrage? They say that they will suspend the privatisation for one year. Is it possible that that extends over the election period so that they can claim that they have listened and that it might not happen? The reality is rather different. If we read the financial pages, we see that those in the private sector, including Care UK and others, are having difficulties, and many of them are overleveraged and in big debt—some of them are featured on the front pages. They cannot make lots of profit out of dementia care. The big companies that own loads of care centres across the country cannot make them pay at the moment. I dissociate myself from any consensus that such private centres are as good in quality as public ones, because in my area and Nottinghamshire, the facts—the external ratings—prove nothing of the kind. The state of some private centres is a scandal. Let me give an example. Abbeymoor was the nearest one to my office. About a year ago, the staff, who were badly paid and trained by comparison with the public sector, with a higher labour turnover, but who were nevertheless decent, hard-working people wanting to learn a profession and serve the community, elderly residents and those suffering from dementia, turned up for work to find the doors locked. The private owner had decided to close it down, shunt the old folk out, get rid of the staff and not even pay them the holiday pay and wages that they were owed. Thankfully, we have just won a case at an industrial tribunal, which will get the staff the money that is owed. That is not the first tribunal I have had to fight in relation to private sector care homes in Nottinghamshire, but the third—and I have not been an MP that long. Three different care homes have not paid their staff properly. I have been in some of those, and have heard what the families say—not just those who have been lucky enough to get into the council ones, but those who want to. Many of the private care homes are a disgrace. Let me tell the House what was happening in Abbeymoor. The staff were having to go out and pay for the food themselves, because the owner was not providing sufficient money. That is a scandal. My only criticism of Government policy is that they should have a stronger inspectorate for private sector care homes, because further scandals will be unveiled. I have heard of a recent inspection of a private home in my area that has a large number of elderly people, some with dementia. The staff were there in the daytime, when the families turned up, but seemed to be missing overnight. They were not there, as though not employed by the big, top, rich company that runs a large number of care homes in the area. In another private home, I am told they stick the residents in bed at 6.30 pm—that is a good quality of life! The hon. Member for East Devon (Mr. Swire) points. Let me point the finger at the people who want to be Tory MPs who are making those decisions. I have given the view of the families, but let me give the public view. I sampled that a week ago, when I rang 5,500 of my constituents on an official opinion poll, under market rules to ensure that it was not biased. It gave them a choice: did they agree with the privatisation of care homes? Ninety-eight per cent. were against such privatisation. That is what the Conservative party will bring if it ever gets into power. It dares to suggest that it stands for those with dementia, yet fails to condemn the Tory county council in Nottinghamshire and its disgraceful attack on elderly people, that vulnerable part of society, and their families. That is an insult to our intelligence. My community in Nottinghamshire is fighting back to put the Tories where they should be, and to beat them on those decisions.