Why Don't We Have US-Style Accommodation?

PasturesNew

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I thought that people's homes having to be sold and all that was to finance PERSONAL care but that the NHS would provide HEALTH care from cradle to grave? What actually constitutes personal care I cannot say because I haven't needed to look into it

I heard something on the telly in the past week that said something like "If it's an illness/disease as such, then the NHS will fund the care. If it's dementia-style of illness, then as a mental health deterioration issue it then moves into the Social Services budget and that's when you have to pay". So it's all down to the reason you're there and not just because you're there.

Even though both items are NHS/health issues, it depends which Govt Department has the budget to sort you out.

C_Mababejive

pelirocco wrote: »

You have toured the whole of the US ? There are large parts that are in crippling poverty , and people living in little more then shanties .

Reasonable property prices? , that will explain the large number of reposessions then

Youve been watching too many TV programmes :rotfl:

I have travelled quite a bit in the US and i dont mean on a tourist bus or round Disneyland. True it has poverty and bad bits . The difference is that the bad bits are in discrete areas with the larger part being largely wholesome whereas in the UK ,most of it is rotten with only little bits being good. The shanties in Britian are the terraces that ordinary hard working people are busting their nuts to buy for £150,000 and up depending on where you live.

BitterAndTwisted

C_Mababejive wrote: »

True it has poverty and bad bits . The difference is that the bad bits are in discrete areas with the larger part being largely wholesome whereas in the UK ,most of it is rotten with only little bits being good. The shanties in Britian are the terraces that ordinary hard working people are busting their nuts to buy for £150,000 and up depending on where you live.

Poverty and bad bits? Dear Lord in Heaven, there are whole States which are no better than some third-world banana republic. Have you ever been to Ohio for instance or Detroit or seen the homeless sleeping on the streets in Chicago, a very prosperous city? Vast communities as far as the eye can see in the most unbelievable, grinding poverty both white and non-white. And that's in the richest nation on God's Earth. It's shameful.

I thank my lucky stars that it's not anything like that here in the UK

Goldenyears

krajab wrote: »

Where were all these $10 motels in the US when I lived there for the last decade?? Might be able to find them in middle-of-nowhere, Alabama, but not anywhere with 400 miles of civilisation.

I thought the same when I remembered touring Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee in the late 1990s. Cheapest national chain we saw on billboards was $29 per night and even they didn't look too good. We chose to pay $40 and up to feel a little safer.

moggylover

harryhound wrote: »

I agree there is no legal duty in the UK (unlike in Germany ?) to keep your parents but the state (Local authority) provision can be pretty dire (shared room doss house smelling of urine?) and the reality is that they probably have to move when their money runs out.

Can we be forced to keep our brain damaged children on either side of the Atlantic?

You know, the biggest problem in care homes has come about since most of them are privately run;)

MIL used to work in what was thought to be a quite posh one around here: she left because as a kitchen hand she was being asked to dole out medication:eek::eek:.

On the other hand my very ill (Alzheimers) FIL is in one now which is state funded and very good - not eutopia and not where any of us would wish to end up I suppose, but he is kept clean and not ill treated and since he is beyond knowing anyone or being cared for at home he is safer there than we could manage to keep him in his own house. BTW, had that been the States, then MIL would be on the streets by now to keep him in that care home. Here she is not, and should it come to it that her home eventually has to be sold to provide her care then it is her money and it is right that it should be spent on her.

greenface

i used to travel around the uk with my work (builder). dragging my 4 berth caravan with me staying on legal campsites for around £200pm summer and £100pm bad months inc all services. shared between 2 blokes thats less than £1.50 a night each

PasturesNew

I've never towed a caravan - and would need a new/bigger car to do so. I used to be a very confident driver, still am in my own car ... I wouldn't be so confident lugging a caravan behind me, especially in the rain, wind, snow, ice. Small and alone.

greenface

Off topic slightly sorry
Used to tow with a transit van but kept getting stopped and refused entry into camp site thinking Gyppos ,changed to a Berlingo car (with no back seats) no problem owned a caravan for 15 years had some great family holidays.
But as for work we were saving mega bucks staying in it Had TV a kettle fridge cooker shower toilet and 2 double beds

Wixie99

Showing my age here, but in the 60's when I started work, people who needed to travel for work stayed in "digs". For those of you too young to know what these where, people used to let out a room in their house, usually providing breakfast and often an evening meal as well. And you could stay as short or as long as you wanted.

There used to be all sorts of "rules" - like a male friend who had to be back by 11pm at night, otherwise he would be locked out!

I don't suppose people would put up with that these days, though.

BitterAndTwisted

I think they probably would if the landlord wasn't called Rigsby. Needs must but it's just a matter of finding somewhere. These days lodgers stay for months rather than days or weeks but as the economic climate changes so this may change, too