Vocal Voices

Social care for the elderly has been much in the news recently, as in how to fund it. As to that it's always seemed to me that as a country we are slowly running out of money. The welfare state was sold as "cradle to grave care", but I think that certainly isn't the case any more; another little bit gets chipped away every so often.

But I do wonder how much unpaid carers, family members, save the state in caring for elderly parents? We do it, not to the degrees that other people do, but MrsC and her sister do a lot for their 89 year old father. Taking him to the doctors, to hospital, arranging appointments (he can't, he's deaf), picking up prescriptions, taking him on holiday, doing his shopping, arranging a cleaner. Lots of people do the same and more, without them how would older people cope?

My wife has an aunt who still looks after her grandchildren; not as much as she used to as they are teenagers now. She is still also looking after her husband's 94 year old mother and has done for years. At one point she was doing this at the same time as she had a part time job. I honestly take my hat off to her and everybody like her. Ordinary people, going above and beyond and making no fuss about it.

This is a problem that would suck up all resources if it was allowed to.

The current model is a mish-mash of NHS, council, private, the family and the elderly (person) themselves, and there is lots of duplication within the system(s).

One thing that seriously needs looking at is what can only be described as "profiteering" in the private care sector, which now provides a large proportion of council social care. The average weekly costs are £572 for basic care and £739 with nursing support.

A small home with 10 residents would rake in about £300k per year, more than enough to pay all costs, with a tidy profit. However, scale up to the national average and the money coming in is nearly £700k, but the running cost drop dramatically, especially in staffing.

The saddest thing in all of this is that the elderly are seen as commodities, unlike in other countries where their care is seen, not as a chore, but as a 'thank you' for earlier years.