Andy Kerr, the Scottish Labour leadership contender, yesterday called for a network of specialist centres to be set up to meet the needs of the elderly.

Mr Kerr claimed that too much emphaisis had been put on care in the community, placing carers under strain and creating long waits for respite care. The former Health Minister called for a shake-up in services for the elderly to deal with the growing numbers in need of help.

Speaking after a visit to a new respite care facility in Muirend in Glasgow, Mr Kerr said: “Successive governments in Scotland and the UK have consistently argued that care in the community was the preferred model for the delivery of elderly services. They have overseen a massive move from institutionalised care in long-term NHS facilities to a variety of other models of care delivered in the community.

“This has resulted in very long waiting lists for respite care to assist carers and those they care for. There is a need, therefore, to design and develop new models of accommodation for the elderly, infirm and disabled and to ensure that those new-build facilities provide integrated services that add to the quality of life of the individual being cared for and the wider community.”

Mr Kerr wants to see new facilities to provide care services to the elderly together with nursery provision for the very young in the same building, a system based on the French model.

In France nursing care for the elderly is often combined with day nursery provision because experts claim the presence of youngsters can provide health benefits for the elderly and enable them to pass on their experience.

Mr Kerr claimed that the Scottish Parliament has to move beyond the provision of free personal care for the elderly to ensuring that people receive individual care plans. “It is no longer enough to be investing in the personal care of our elderly. We must ensure that they get the type of care that is individually tailored to their needs in the right type of facility,” he said.

Mr Kerr also pledged to bring forward legislation to ensure that the managers or owners of nursing homes were qualified to look after the individual needs of their residents. “This will involve working with the universities and colleges of nursing to ensure the provision of appropriate courses across Scotland that will provide the necessary training for care staff and their managers in the most up-to-date care practices and procedures for those in their care,” he said.

Gordon McLean, the joint developer of the Muirend project in Glasgow, said: “As responsible developers, we have to look further than throwing up two-bedroom flats without any benefit for the community.”

Lil Wilson's daughter Kelly suffered a series of strokes at a young age and lay in a hospital bed for nine months because the local housing association was unable to afford to convert her home. She now occupies a custom built flat in a development in Tinto Road, Glasgow.

She said: “I support this initiative and any other like it that provides accommodation for the disabled and gives them back their independence.”

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