A few weeks ago I had coffee with a doctor visiting the UK from Sweden who was researching the future of healthcare systems in Europe, with the NHS as a test case. After a while, we got onto the topic of how hospitals and social care intersect and the peculiarities of how the latter is organised and funded. Like Sweden, social care in Scotland can be provided in residential care homes, nursing homes, or in the community through home care services.
Also like Sweden, the providers in Scotland can be a mix of public, private, or charitable organisations with service users subject to needs assessments. READ MORE: Inside the NHS: The beds crisis behind an unravelling NHS What is the future of the NHS under the next UK Government? South Lanarkshire defends 130 per cent fees hike for self-funding care home residents But then we came to the thorniest issue, and one on which our two nations sharply diverge: the idea that elderly people might have to sell their house to pay for their care home costs. "That would be very strange to people in Sweden - it just wouldn't happen," she said.
In Sweden, like Scotland, 20% of the population are over 65, but the cost of long-term care for the elderly - whether at home, or in care homes - is almost entirely publicly-funded. More than 90% of the cost is financed through a combination of local municipal taxes and central government grants. Service users cover the remainder - around 6-8% - although this "co-pay" is capped and depends on income.
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