A caring idea we could use

IN FRANCE, a ‘revolutionary’ village is being created for alzheimer’s patients, where they will live alongside carers, researchers and volunteers and be free to roam unrestricted.

The village will have a supermarket, restaurant, hair salon, gym and library, and be set around a central square.

It sounds a wonderful idea, but I hardly think it’s revolutionary.

What the French are doing is re-inventing what was once the norm — where the elderly and vulnerable were cared for within their family and community.

These days, care is outsourced to dreary care homes and it seems we’re only just coming to appreciate what we’ve lost.

ON THE subject of carers, the Government has announced plans to support some six million people nationwide who look after vulnerable relatives, with flexible working arrangements and paid ‘carers’ leave’.

The carers need caring for, too. This cannot come soon enough.