We must heal the failing care system

I found the vital guide to old-age care in last week’s

Mail on Sunday very interesting, informative and pertinent to the situation my 93-year-old husband and myself find ourselves experiencing.

After several falls and an emergency admission to the local hospital in late January with a severe infection and delirium, my husband was sent home in early April with no coherent package of care. I managed to source a reliable and professional, if expensive, local private care agency, which has provided hygiene care for my husband three times a day but this is eating into our savings. The local Carers UK association has been helpful with much needed advice, as have the local GP surgery and the community nurses, who are stoic troopers.

My main question is why is it so difficult to get a professional assessment of a patient’s needs in writing so that worried and distressed relatives and carers can see a way forward for their loved ones. It seems as if the

2014 Care Act needs a serious review as so many patients, and their carers, are just left to get on with it. We surely cannot continue to use Covid as an excuse for poor practice.

Carola Donovan, Slough