Elderly making vital contributions
Re Costs of Care of the Elderly.
Your correspondent Adam Reynolds (Cost of care of the elderly, June 28) makes some very unfortunate and harsh comparisons to other BANES services. He compares the cost of elderly care with refuse collection costs to start with. Not a very sensitive comparison.
Bath has had an elderly population for many, many years. People are living longer as a result of improved medical care and housing.
I would now like to remind Mr Reynolds what the older population has and does contribute to the community today in BANES.
1. First of all many grandparents are involved with the child care of their grandchildren and do an incredible job working long hours when their children have to work to support their families and pay the mortgage.
2. With the increasing numbers of charities, due to the economic situation in the UK, these are run by volunteers who give long and devoted hours of service and they are mainly elderly people who are the volunteers.
3. Did Mr Reynolds read in the Chronicle ‘ Communities set to run libraries’ (June 26) where because of shrinking budgets that five community sub-libraries in the BANES area were to close? The good news is that they will now remain open and function as community libraries and are to be run by volunteers, the majority of whom are likely to be in the older age group.
4. When you go to the RUH you see a vast range of volunteers all helping and supporting the health and social care services to run efficiently. Without these volunteers (mainly older mature adults) many of these services could close or not operate so efficiently.
I think I have raised enough points to demonstrate that older people still contribute hugely to society. Mr Reynolds you will also be elderly one day and I wonder how you might feel then to read a letter such as yours. I think many would have found it insulting.
Finally, the issue of funding the care of our population does need addressing ( this is the only point that I am in agreement with Mr Reynolds) that is the care of the entire population and central funding combining social care costs and the NHS has been discussed over many years but without reaching an outcome and agreement so far.