Minister appeals for better care for elderly

THE UK Health Secretary will refer to the case of an elderly man from Edinburgh who lay dead in his home for up to three years when he appeals today for people to take better care of their elderly relatives.

In a speech, Jeremy Hunt will say that around eight “lonely funerals” take place every day, funded by councils because no friends or family are there to pay for them.

Mr Hunt will call on the public to step up, and say that while the health and social care system must do a better job at looking after people, “so too must all of us as citizens as well”. He will highlight figures that show that one in ten older people does not see their family even monthly, and that in just five years’ time there will be a million more over-70s – one third of them living alone – meaning the situation is only likely to get worse.

Mr Hunt will cite the example of the recent case in Edinburgh, where police had to break down the door of a flat to reach the body of a man who had lain there for up to three years.

Mr Hunt will say: “Statistics indicate that in 2011 in England there were 2,900 council-funded funerals. That is around eight ‘lonely funerals’ every single day, half of which were for over-65s.

“Are we really saying these people had no living relatives or friends? Or is it something sadder, namely that the busy, atomised lives we increasingly lead mean that too often we have become so distant from blood relatives that we don’t have any idea even when they are dying?

“Yes, the health and social care system must do a much better job at looking after them. But so too must all of us as citizens as well.

“Shockingly, in Edinburgh last week, police had to break down the door of a top floor flat because it had been so long since the door had been opened, and pick their way through mounds of unopened mail, to reach the body of a man who may have been left undiscovered in his flat for up to three years.”