Switzerland ranked best place to grow older - where is UK?

It's quite funny, actually

I presume she didn't actually vote in the Labour leadership election, unlike some others of her party and a great many more Greens...

What's that got to do with the OP anyway?

That's the trouble with Tory ministers, they can't decide what to do.

Politics..... Even in this thread eh?

Those pesky varmint Tories!

Switzerland is good at.... Snow covered mountains, chocolate, and cuckoo clocks, and not a lot else.

She's the minister for people growing older, not actually just someone growing older. I am a bit worried that someone with her memory loss might forget what she is supposed to be doing.

Switzerland is a nice place to grow old if you don't die of boredom first.

Seriously I think their carers are trained like nurses and midwives, and are very good organisers.

I watched some of the rowing last weekend. It was in Switzerland, and looked beautiful. I could understand why people want to retire there.

Oh come on rosesarered, what about Toblerone?

The Swiss have very good transport systems that runs precisely, on time. Something to do with precise clocks?
They don't let snow bring the country to a halt!

x

Just don't get old.My very poorly husband was admitted to hospital last week,he spent the first 8 hours sat on a hard chair in the corridor.When I told the consultant ,he said contrary to anything you may here.the health service is in a very bad way.From what I hear,it mainly affects the elderly.

roses and Margaret- you obviously not lived in my part of Switzerland then - lol. Pesnstemmon I could discuss Swiss neutrality till the cos come home (with bells on) - it is a very interesting subject actually- and if we did discuss it, you may understand why neutrality made sense.

When I think of the difference in quality with OAP care homes in the UK (and I have a lot of experience in that, for all sorts of reasons) - depending on whether you have money or not- and the fact that quality of care here is the same whether one pays privately or the State pays- then I'd say the report is spot on. Health care is second to none and everyone has health insurance, paid privately is one can afford it, or State paid if one cannot. And as said above, the transport system is fabulous and totally integrated- and covers the remotest rural areas- with huge subsidies for OAPs. ETC. For me too, one great plus is that, if faced with a debilitating illness - we here have the choice to opt out and be supported in that process. Having said that, we may well return when older to be nearer our daughters and grandchildren- I'd be equally happy in our beloved UK (it is possible to love both here and there, and feel truly at home here or there) - and if necessary come back to Switzerland if the above is required- unless Dying in Dignity wins that battle, which I sincerely hope for.

Huge idfferences in climate for different parts of Switzerland, we get very cold temps here and lots of snow at high altitude- but there are plenty of places in Switzerland that do not and have a much more temperate climate- and much dryer than most of the UK.

Re transport system which is still Nationalised and cherished as such- you can go on the Swiss plublic transport website and request info for a journey which will include trains, buses, boats and even some cog railways and cable cars- and get an integrated timetable, and a single ticket for your journey. In the UK, ever since the Blessed Margaret, there are so many railway companies, with about 100 different tarifs depending on date, day, time, special offer, blabla- and try and match up with buses and it is NOOOOOO. Our UK town had a bus station at the opposite side of the town to the railway station, with no shuttle in between- and the rail station served by a different bus station to the main one!

And try to get to anywhere rural in the UK and you can forget it- especially after 6pm or so! Our buses run to past midnight here and later at week-ends. If we come from the local large town to the main station down in the Valley, the bus is there waiting for the train to arrive to pick up anyone requiring a lift up to the villages higher up. Hurrah.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Switzerland

Sounds a right grim place to me

Well, I did forget Toblerone Alea ( though I did mention Chocolate.) So perhaps worth living there for that alone.

It's a nice place for a holiday, we have had several there over the years,
But prefer to live here to any where actually, now that I think about it.

Public sector pensions better in Germany, food better in France, weather better in Spain, wine better (OK debatable) in Italy (and they've got Inspector Montalbano) so why should I want to live in the UK?
Oh, forgot to say, it's home.
It's where the DC and the DGCs live and home is where the heart is!
(Plus, our TV is 500% better!)

Sacre bleu, sineDie I have just read your link, and it would take a heck of a lot of Toblerone to make up for that!

Like your post Alea 20.19.

Actually Alea I don't think the food in France is better, it is stuck in a time warp imo.
But most Brits abroad still watch English telly.
We have one family with grandchildren in the UK and one in Spain so can't identify with that bit of your post!
We live in France, which has good things and some not so good things - but is very much home.
I think as someone said upthread, the problem with these surveys is that there are so many variables and it depends on individual circumstances.

SineDie - your link talks about the Switzerland of the past ... which, yes, was still very rural and poor until the late 19C and even way beyond the First WW. And yes, we did get the vote very late- so late that I already lived in the UK by then. My Canton and Geneva gave the vote to women quite a bit earlier for local affairs quite a bit earlier. Having lived 2/3rds of my life in the UK, and now back 6 years in Switzerland- I can assure you things have changed massively. I am also fortunate to live in the French speaking area, right on the French border- and people here have a much more open and modern attitude to women than in some of the central Switzerland Kantons (Canton in FRench, Kanton in German) - and where indeed, despite the amazing scenery I would NOT wish to live even now. Great for holidays though!

Switzerland is much much more egalitarian, be it about schools, health care and elderly care. The elderly who have no money will be looked after in exactly the same way as those who do not, in the same OAP homes (there are a few very posh ones in areas like Montreux and StMoritz for the billionaires, of course). In my valley, we have 7 OAP homes, and they all provide the same quality of care for all- some is paid by the State, some privately- and it is totally confidential. And yes, people have to sell their home and use up savings for elderly care- and then the State picks up the tab.

It is a shame when people make comments about something they know so little about. I've live in the uk 39 years, spent my youth in Switzerland for 19, and now back for 6- and have contacts with most parts of UK and Switzerland. As said, apart from the right to self determination at the end of life, I personally would be very happy in either country- a big part of my life being in the UK. If Dignity in Dying succeeds today in the House of Commons- it would make it a lot easier for me to go back to UK at some point - Switzerland is way ahead on this point, and it is something I feel very strongly about, that what happens to me at the end is MY choice, and nobody elses.

While I feel that dignity in death and being able to choose my own time is important, far more important is how I live into my old age. I want to be with my daughter and grandchildren and rejoice that they want me to be with them. That pretty much cancels out any disadvantages about pensions, public transport and any other issues. I'm not ready to pop the bucket yet!

My first thought in answer to that absent was "here here". But then, I guess, we are not one of the pensioners living on the edge through lack of money and other life circumstances.

I do wonder how many care homes some of you have visited in the UK- some are excellent, some are ok, some are poor, some are diabolical...