A FORMER senior civil servant has underlined the importance of giving care workers a say in the way Scotland looks after its growing elderly population.

In a rare interview Sir Peter Housden, who was Permanent Secretary for the Scottish Government until this summer, described the rising number of frail elderly as "one of the biggest issues facing our society".

He also discussed his own family's experience navigating different support services after his mother developed dementia and said there was "unevenness" in the system - which was sometimes brilliant but disjointed and slow at other times.

Sir Peter, who spent five years in the top government job, spoke about the importance of the NHS, councils, charities and voluntary organisations working together to deliver services. He stressed the need to listen to those on the frontline as new joint boards bringing together these different providers try to improve care and meet rising demand.

Sir Peter said: "The people who are supporting and providing personal care and support to those in need, whether they are carers, volunteers or paid workers - we really have to listen to them, learn from their experience, work backwards from what works for them and engineer the system to enable them to do their work effectively."

Across Scotland NHS boards and council social work staff are merging to take over joint responsibility for managing community care by next April.

Sir Peter, who was Permanent Secretary as this radical policy was being introduced, is chairing a think tank later this month which will discuss how to transform Scotland's health and social care services at a time when the rising number of frail elderly is putting growing pressure on the system.

Discussing his involvement in the event, which has been organised by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, Sir Peter said all families would have some experience of care services at some point in their lives. The last 10 years of his own mother's life, he said, had been "increasingly blighted by Alzheimer's disease".

He continued: "The burden of caring fell on my sister who herself had a disabled husband and through her fantastic, heroic work she was able to get social services, the voluntary sector and the health service and indeed I think the private sector (involved).

"She was able to make that work, but it was a lot of work and we had many advantages in handling that situation which other people would not do."

Asked about the problems the family encountered, he said: "The interesting thing about it was the unevenness because on occasions people were outstandingly good, we would say that is fantastically quick and effective and other times they would be slow. Sometimes it was about pressure of work and other priorities."

His mother lived in England and died in 2009, but Sir Peter suggested the issues he encountered remain common UK-wide. "There is nothing particular or special about our circumstances, it is replicated across the country and this is a big thing for our society," he said.

"The unevenness in the system means we have outstandingly high performing localities and the question is about learning from those experiences and generalising them across the system and tackling poor performance where it exists."

The think tank is being held in partnership with The University of the West of Scotland on Tuesday October 27 and will be followed by a lecture that evening which is being given by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Ian Welsh, chief executive of the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, said Sir Peter would bring a wealth of experience to the think tank.

He said: “We are bringing together a small collective of leaders across Scottish society to discuss what is needed to transform Scottish society so that all citizens are able to thrive and to explore opportunities for significant change.”