MSP congratulates East Kilbride elderly carers

Following their latest visit to the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee, Central Scotland MSP Linda Fabiani paid tribute to Madge Clark and Jeanette Kelly of the Murray Owen Carers Group in East Kilbride for their persistent and determined campaigning on behalf of elderly carers looking after adults with learning disabilities.

The campaigners first petitioned the Scottish Parliament in 2004, following their personal experiences in East Kilbride when suitable accommodation and care was not available for their own adult children, when they could no longer look after them at home. This led them to take up the campaign on behalf of elderly people in similar circumstances across Scotland. The petition, which has been ongoing for almost 3 years now, calls for action to ensure adults with learning disabilities who are cared for at home by elderly parents receive the same level of support and community care as there is given to those discharged from hospitals.

Ms Fabiani, who attended the latest public petitions committee meeting with the campaigners and has been an active supporter throughout, said:

“It has been a long-drawn out journey for Madge and Jeanette, and I am in complete admiration of their positive attitude, their spirit and their determination during an often frustrating campaign.

As a result of their persistence, specific recommendations for action to tackle the issue have been drawn up and presented to the Executive, and I am glad that the petition will remain open until a satisfactory solution has been reached.

It is vital that we act urgently to ensure elderly carers have the security of knowing that their sons and daughters will receive effective emergency care, and be placed in suitable independent housing, before the time comes when they are simply too old or too ill to do it themselves.

They need the chance in their later years to look after their own health, and they deserve respect from society and support from their communities, after so many years tirelessly caring for their children with complex needs.

Adults with learning disabilities who live with elderly parents should have the same right as hospital-discharged patients to be housed on their own within communities. They should not be pushed to the end of housing waiting lists. We must avoid giving the perception that they are not quite as important as those who are discharged from institutions.

Thanks largely to the efforts of Madge and Jeanette the plight of elderly carers has been brought to the political centre stage and I hope the Executive will act urgently on the specific recommendations being put to them. “