Scottish Government
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Free Personal and Nursing Care

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland 2009-10. This statistics release presents information on the number of people benefiting from free personal care and free nursing care in Scotland and how much Local Authorities spend on personal care services.

Some of the notable statistics included in the report are:

Care Homes

The amount of money spent by Local Authorities on Free Personal care and Free Nursing Care (FPNC) payments to self-funding residents in Care Homes has increased each year from £86 million in 2003-04 to £108 million in 2009-10. This 25.6 per cent increase reflects the increasing number of self-funders up until 2008-09 and the annual increases in the FPNC payments from April 2008. All of this is new money arising from the FPNC policy.

This increase in expenditure is due to:

  • The number of self-funders in Care Homes receiving free personal care has increased from 8,350 in 2003-04 to 9,330 in 2009-10, an increase of 11.7 per cent
  • The number of self-funders receiving free nursing care has also increased from 5,270 in 2003-04 to 5,980 in 2009-10, an increase of 13.4 per cent
  • It must be noted that there has been a small reduction in self-funders in Care Homes receiving free personal and nursing care when compared to 2008-09 numbers
Home Care

The amount of money spent by Local Authorities on providing personal care services to older people in their own homes has risen steadily each year from £133 million in 2003-04 to £318 million in 2009-10. This 139 per cent increase in spend reflects the fact that an increasing proportion of older people are cared for at home, rather than in hospital or care homes; that increasingly home care workers are providing personal care services rather than domestic services; and that people living at home have increasing levels of need.

This increase in expenditure is due to:

  • The number of people in receipt of free personal care at home has increased from 32,870 in 2003-04 to 46,260 in 2009-10, an increase of 40.7 per cent
  • The proportion of older home care clients requiring personal care services has also increased. In 2003-04, 56.9per cent of clients received personal care services. This has increased to 86.2 per cent in 2009-10
  • The average hours provide each week has increased from 6.9 hours in 2003-04 to 7.6 hours in 2009-10

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