Older, but not wiser about care

One in three babies born today will live to be 100.

And despite increases in the pension age many of us can look forward to spending more than a quarter of our lives in retirement.

This might be good news on the longevity front, but it’s a challenge for the care sector.

The longer people live the more they will need looking after.

Yet scandal after scandal shows that too many parts of the residential care system are not up to the job. And today we reveal that police are investigating 12 deaths in eight nursing homes owned by Sussex Health Care after tip-offs from safeguarding agencies.

That Britain would have to cope with a growing ageing population has been an open secret for 40 years. But successive governments put off tackling it because they feared they would lose votes.

This is no longer a crisis on the doorstep. It’s through the door, and politicians are panicking.

Theresa May screwed up the election with her half-baked plan for a dementia tax.

She was right to recognise the urgency of the problem but she went the wrong way about it.

Mrs May and her ministers must recognise that elderly care is going to cost money. Shedloads of it.

And now serious thought must be given to how it can be raised. Forcing elderly people to sell the family home in return for being looked after was never going to cut it.

As healthcare is linked more closely with social care, a new way of paying for more hospital beds and nursing home places – and the extra staff to run them – must be found.

That could involve a social insurance scheme as in France. It may mean the better off paying for certain services as in Canada.

Or perhaps we are now ready to accept a hefty hike in taxes. As long as that money is ringfenced for the old and sick.