Older people dying from lack of social care

In days gone by, when families tended to be larger and far fewer people lived long into old age, the elderly were cared for by the family. My own Great Aunt Jenny, who lived to be 106, very infirm but mentally brilliant, was cared for by her youngest daughter, a war window, for many years. The rest of the family, all sons, each contributed financially, did the decorating and garden, etc. to allow this to continue.

Such an arrangement is no longer possible with smaller, often scattered families and the necessity for women to work outside the home. Those requiring care have to generally rely on their spouse, if they have one, to provide 24/7 care and these spouses tend to be also elderly and may have health problems of their own, may not be internet savvy, or able to drive, which makes dealing with all the bureaucracy involved in finding and funding alternative care, beyond them.

Unbelievably sad when you live in a society which tells you there is care available.

Older people have always died from lack of care and many still do, in every country in the world.

I agree Jane 10, the care is wonderful if you can get it but the hoops you have to go through to acquire it are beyond the capacity of ill, elderly people to negotiate. As I was suffering Carer Breakdown, I would not have been able to pursue alternative care for DH without the help and support of our DDs. Until you have lived it, i.t is difficult to envisage the difficulties of arranging the necessary appointments with Social Workers, lawyer, Doctor, ect. when you have to arrange alternative care for your LO who cannot be left home alone for even 5 minutes and is doubly incontinent and liable to wander off if taken with you.

The process of getting DH settled into a care home took from assessment in January till the end of July when he was admitted to the local Care Home on a 6 week trial basis. He has settled well there and the care is exemplary. There was a two week emergency respite arranged back in the January and thereafter 2x Carer visits am and pm every day.

The assigned Social Worker was kind and caring but she was a WASPI women, forced to work on past her expected retirement date, She had 2 month long breaks (off sick with stress and on returning chose to work p/t 2 days per week, thus causing lots of delays in progressing OH's care needs.

I believe that the on-going amalgamation of Health and Social Care Services, will lead eventually to a better more streamlined service, but the bureaucracy and half formed protocols have caused untold difficulties for those unfortunate enough to require care during this transition period. Also the introduction of Free Personal Care, whilst very welcome, has led to a surge in applications, without a commensurate rise in SW staff and Qualified Carers to meet the demand.

PS : I think there is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding FPC - it does cover home visits by Carers, but for Care Home residents it only covers the cost of actual care, whereas the huge 'hotel' charges element e.g. meals, accommodation, laundry etc. are still payable direct to the care home. In OH's case £177 per week of his £925 pw Fees is paid by the Council on behalf of the SG the rest has to be met from DH's pensions and savings. A further annoyance is that the DWP stopped DH's £88 per week Attendance Allowance as soon as he went into care. This only happens in Scotland. In England, self funders in care homes can continue to claim this benefit.

It's a big problem in Scotland too. There are waiting lists to even be assessed and if awarded free personal care or nursing care (separate things) it can be well nigh impossible to find carers. Agencies struggle for staff up here too. There is a big problem with bed blocking as care packages can take so long to assess for and arrange that care needs can have changed resulting in the need to keep people in hospital even longer. It's a big problem in our local area in particular. Several of our poor neighbours are in this position.

It doesn’t bode well for us as we age. Particularly after listening and watching Johnson’s reaction on LBC as he bumbled his way through a question about social care.

Keeping people in their home saves bed blocking and actually is cost effective. Didn’t Corbyn promise free care? And isn’t this already in place in Scotland?

sadly it isn't that easy to get good care or even any care at all.

I am in the middle of trying to replace carers,,,,,no-one will pay enough money

It’s a short article on the report, but worth reading.

That is so sad. If people get to the state when they phone and ask for care, they definitely need it and should get it. No questions asked.