The head of the social care providers’ organisation, Scottish Care, says the debate about coronavirus has brought negative attitudes to older people into sharp focus.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Donald Macaskill said comments in the media and social media paint a picture of a society that does not value older people.

He told the programme the time had come to challenge a mindset that has been developing over many years:

“This week we’ve had one of the leading economists and political journalists talk about the benefits of coronavirus reducing the strain on our economy.

“These sort of negative attitudes, which believe that older people have very little purpose, have already lived their lives and therefore are to some degree expendable – which is the word one journalist has used – need to be challenged.

“But they don’t come from nowhere. They come from decades of fairly negative attitudes to the value, the contribution and the capacity of our older generation.”

Dr Macaskill added:

“Coronavirus presents I think with an opportunity to become the sort of nation of inclusion, of equity and fairness and decency which we all want to live in.”