ANALYSIS
YOU can judge a society by how it cares for its elderly and vulnerable. Social care provision in the UK is currently the worst I have experienced in more than 30 years working within the NHS.
While it’s true we have an older, more dependent population, it is also true we have seen a deliberate decrease in state funding – we are not providing anywhere near enough funding to provide the care needed.
As a GP working in an overstretched, rationed NHS, I am reliant on social care support for my patients; social care at home to prevent hospital admissions, social care to make living at home more tolerable and prevent illness, and social care to allow transfer from hospital to the community. Tragically, in many cases it just isn’t there. What provision is there is often inadequate, slow to arrive and deficient in quality.
Harry has just had his 80th birthday. Dementia has taken his memory, his dignity and his self respect. A few weeks ago he was found wandering the streets alone, at night, completely confused – the situation had reached crisis point.
Agnes, his wife, is 79 and can no longer cope. A personality change, often with aggression, and the long gone personal hygiene of her husband of 55 years means her own later years have become a curse.
For me, as their GP, getting social care for Harry and Agnes proves almost impossible.
He has a simple state pension and cannot afford to buy care privately. His life is not under imminent threat, so social care cannot be provided.
The strain is too much, Agnes herself becomes ill, and needs urgent hospital admission; so too does Harry, no longer able to continue at home alone. Both are admitted.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The resources to provide good social care are there.
For the better-off it may mean a little extra taxation today, but it could be you who needs the care tomorrow. Then what would you say?