Elderly couples to stay together in care

By Tim Castle

BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) - Elderly couples will be able to stay together and not be split up when one partner goes into care, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said on Sunday.

"When a couple have lived all their lives together they should not be forced apart near the end of their lives," Johnson told Labour activists at their spring conference in Birmingham.

"This week (Care Services Minister) Ivan Lewis and I will be setting out plans to enable elderly couples to remain together when one of them has to go in to care.

"This will be part of our increasing focus on adult social care."

Charity Help the Aged welcomed the move, saying that too often couples were separated for reasons of administrative and financial convenience.

"If one member of a couple has got complex dementia it is quite costly to keep them together," a spokeswoman said.

She said care services needed to be more flexible and creative in treating the elderly, with more care delivered at their homes.

Johnson also urged family doctors to agree to open their surgeries outside office hours.