AN MSP IS calling on more support to be provided for carers throughout Moray and the Highlands and Islands.
Rhoda Grant, the Labour shadow minister for health inequalities at the Scottish Parliament, ended Carers Week in Scotland on Friday by meeting local carers for a discussion on building “carer friendly communities” and means of offering more support for carers in her Highlands and Islands constituency.
Mrs Grant, whose constituency responsibilities includes Moray, said she will “beef up the powers” of the Care Inspectorate.
“Carers Week is one of the most important weeks of the year, as for too long the work of Scotland’s unpaid carers goes unrecognised and unsupported,” the MSP said following the meeting in Dingwall on Friday.
She added: “Carers UK estimate that Scotland’s carers save Scotland £10 billion a year, the absolute least we can deliver is more support for the estimated 40,518 carers in the Highland and Islands and across Scotland.
“That’s why I will be voting to beef up the powers of the Care Inspectorate, to make them responsible for carer’s services and support.
“I am calling on the other political parties at Holyrood to put people before politics and deliver a better deal for Scotland’s carers.”
She added that Scottish Labour plans for the Care Inspectorate would include responsibility for inspecting “the standards and provision of carer services across Scotland”.
The last Census showed that in Moray there were 6614 people providing unpaid care services – 43% of whom were doing so for more than 20 hours each week.