CHANGES aimed at ending the "scandal" of elderly people paying thousands of pounds from their own savings to pay for nursing care in retirement have been welcomed by Lancashire Tories.

Conservative county council spokesman Coun Joyce Stuart has given a warm welcome to the conclusions of a Royal Commission which said the current system of care for the elderly was confusing and unfair.

She said: "I welcome the recommendations which press for the ending of injustice faced by old people who find themselves impoverished at the end of their lives by having to pay thousands of pounds for long term care while others pay nothing.

"The commission considered this to be a scandal and I agree.

"It is wrong for a situation to exist where those who have shown prudence and used their resources to establish their homes, find their savings and possessions taken from them and offset against their care charges whereas other sections of the community are not charged."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.