System is in crisis and behind rival countries
Anguish of our fight to keep mum with family
RELATIVES of a 92-year-old grandmother say they are being forced to raise funds so she can end her days living with them rather than go into a “cheaper” care home.
Cath Moore, who has heart failure and dementia, has already sold her £128,000 home and used £80,000 life savings to help pay for 24-hour care.
The former teacher moved in with her daughter after she was no longer able to live alone.
Her husband Ken died in 2009 and Cath left the family home of 50 years to live with daughter Deb and partner Mary. But funds are running out and the family say the local authority has told them the cheapest option would be to put her in a residential home.
Dignity
Deb, 56, from Sheffield, has vowed to raise the funds with her sister Anne, 62, in a desperate bid to keep her mother surrounded by loved ones.
Cath receives £500 a month towards her care but even her teaching pension does not cover the shortfall. Her family need to find an extra £12,000 a year to pay for carers.
Deb said her mother does not realise the seriousness of the situation.
She said: “She would be horrified if she knew (about the fundraising) because of her dignity. It’s a sad reflection on us as a society that we don’t care for the elderly. It’s unfair and unjust.
“I’ve nothing against care homes, many do a fabulous job, but it just wouldn’t be right for mum. She wouldn’t last.”
Deb, who balances the grandmother-of-five’s care needs around her family therapist job claimed that if her mother was forced to go into a home it would prove disastrous.
She said: “I think she’d be dead in a few weeks so that’s not going to happen. It would be horrible. We love having her to be honest and she’s happier here. It’s an absolutely awful position to be put in to be told our best option is a care home.
“I’ve moved shifts to work three nights a week so I can help look after mum more during the day, but it’s a nightmare scenario.
“We know we are not unique – there are lots of families that want to keep their loved one at home rather than send them to a home – but it’s tragic to be 8.6 million people aged 65 or over living in the UK, with over-65s making up 26 per cent of the population. This is an unprecedented challenge to a system that cannot cope with existing demands.
Despite the hard work and dedication of the social care workforce in the UK, the current system is not designed to meet these challenges. Our analysis of international examples of social told that is the most financially viable option.
“I feel like she’s really being let down. I don’t think they’re bothered about her, she’s inconvenient.”
Friends and family have raised funds through sponsored walks including a 21-mile trek of Edale Ridge in the Peak District. Sheffield City Council has failed to respond to a request for comment.
The Daily Express continues fighting for Britain’s pensioners through our Respect For The Elderly Crusade. care systems suggests there are three fundamental questions the Green Paper will need to answer:
Should a system provide at least basic universal care, free at the point of use?
Should the cost of that care be borne by the state or by recipients?
To what extent should progressive means be used to finance that care?
These are difficult questions, which require serious consideration and debate.
To answer them, the Green Paper must grasp the nettle and propose a realistic and funded plan to address the immediate crisis, as well as delivering the Government’s vision for longer-term reforms to ensure the fairness and sustainability of the social care system.
Ducking the issue – again – cannot be an option.