HE7 Help should be at hand to protect those most vulnerable in society

For the elderly particularly, a safe and stable environment in which to live without fear of being turfed out is essential WERE you there when they told your mother her nursing home was closing down?

Did you see the look on her face when the news hit home?

Did you hear the sadness in the voices of other soon to be homeless residents?

We hear almost on a daily basis of retirement and nursing homes closing down.

Unless you are directly connected with someone on the receiving end, that news is likely to be little more than another worrying statistic.

It will only be a matter of time before some freewheeling researcher makes a connection between eviction and mortality.

There can’t be many of us who don’t enjoy the simple pleasure of being at home.

For an older person living in a single rest home room, feeling safe and secure is fundamental.

American psychologist Abraham Maslow confirmed that, when he introduced the world to his Hierarchy of Needs model.

The first two levels of his five-tier model of human needs confirmed physiological

(food, water, water, warmth and rest) and safety (security and safety) as the very foundation of human needs.

Think for a moment about an older person surrounded by personal belongings of huge emotional importance. Family photographs, special presents, favourite books have almost unmeasurable importance as the years trickle away.

The feeling of warmth and safety, plus the social contact with other friendly residents is essential to good mental health.

In this age of austerity and Draconian government funding cuts, it is these vulnerable members of society that feel the pain first.

The shock of hearing that your safe place is going to be taken away is simply shocking.

Of course it isn’t just the elderly that are experiencing that sense of loss as increasing numbers of people simply cannot afford to live above the poverty line.

That stark fact was highlighted by a United Nations report into UK living conditions.

The report commented on the huge numbers of people being forced into poverty by the Government’s austerity policy.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Amber Rudd, condemned the report because she didn’t like the language used. Hmm.

Even those older people living in their own homes feel increasingly threatened by cruel funding cuts.

We once took it for granted that much of the home visit work would be the bailiwick of NHS nurses, but increasingly this is being farmed out to private providers.

Time sensitive visits by a self-employed home care visitor does worry me because it smacks of the ‘gig economy’ and we all know the problems that has created in other sectors.

The Quality Care Commission (QCC) has been taking a hard look at a number of care providers and issued poor ratings to those not offering a good level of care.

It is right this should happen, but we must look at the causes rather than simply jumping up and down with unacceptable outcomes.

It is a little like giving a person a rowing boat and asking them to take passengers to the other side of the lake.

All well and good until you realise that you have the boat but no oars or paddles.

Expecting underfunded retirement and nursing homes to struggle on against rising costs isn’t sensible.

So often when underfunding is challenged we are assaulted by a barrage of foggy statistics that can bewilder the most steadfast of commentators.

We all need to pay attention to what is going on and hearing that a number of old people have been pitched out of a closing retirement home should send a shiver through all of us!

That feeling of domestic security should be paramount.

Is that too much to ask as the fiscal noose tightens? I think not.

We should be able to wake up and start the day by keeping the smile.