NHS should provide retirement housing

Loughton_Monkey

McKneff wrote: »

It really isnt that bad, My OH and I are pensioners, we manage quite well, we eat well, have holidays, telly, sky,

We own our own house so no rent to pay or should I say no getting handouts from the government etc.

Im quite happy thank you very much.

Phew!!!!!!

A brave statement. You'll be accused of being a 'boomer' soon. As you know, that means we had everything handed to us on a plate. Untold wealth just stuck to us whatever we did.

Us boomers are social pariahs. Our sin was to spread 40-odd years of salary over 70-odd years of life. Apparently that makes us social outcasts these days....

MacMickster

Whilst I don't believe that the NHS should provide retirement homes, we are going to need far more sheltered housing developments, in order to keep as many as possible of our ageing population out of (very expensive) care homes and help them to maintain their independence.

We would also likely benefit from more temporary accommodation with carers on hand, for those coming out of hospital, but not yet well enough to return to their own home. Again this would free up expensive hospital beds, with the carers being paid significantly less than medical staff.

Carl31

my wife works in care and some of her clients are NHS patients. She said there are loads living alone in up to 4 bedroom council houses.

Why not build retirement flats, put these people into a community place, save a few quid on their housing costs ans free up a few houses?

PasturesNew

I've always thought it'd be handier if sheltered housing were built around hospital grounds, so that people with health issues could more easily get to hospital - and part of that could be an elderly ward where they're sent to while their future''s being decided.

My parent was bed blocking ages because it took so long to get somebody to the hospital bedside to make a decision over what could/should be done.... and they c0cked it up too ... and then, once a decision had been made (care home), I then had to find one at the drop of a hat, without any help about them except a catalogue to choose from and I had to visit as many as I could fit in ... which then had to have a space. And THEN .... the s0ddin' care home wouldn't accept them until they, too, had attended the Hospital and made a decision about whether they could meet my parent's needs. All too long-winded.

Better to be wheeled to an elderly ward, with a decision being made quicker and access to real information about which care homes would [a] be suitable and had a space.... but even so, once you've driven round them all and seen them all ... it can still take a few days before the care home manager has a slot in their diary ... and even on the day my parent left the hospital, they were still 'bed blocking' until about tea-time due to transport issues.

There are lots of ways to speed up all these processes and make them easier, smoother, quicker, better.

Loughton_Monkey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've always thought it'd be handier if sheltered housing were built around hospital grounds,.....

...er... that was the old workhouse.

PaulF81

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Personally I think the way old people are treated in the UK is an absolute disgrace. Lonely, abandoned, forgotten, eking out a miserable existence in horrible care homes.

I very much doubt the NHS of all things is going to ameliorate this problem however considering it seems to struggle to even remember to change peoples sheets once a week or not give them the wrong medicine.

They shouldn't live so long then. Things were much easier when life expectancy was closer to 65.

grizzly1911

PaulF81 wrote: »

They shouldn't live so long then. Things were much easier when life expectancy was closer to 65.

Just remind me how long you've got left.

I know a few people that have gone long before that no doubt there bereaved family will be getting a sizable rebate.

PaulF81

Oh, a good 40 years I reckon. If you don't look after your body, why should the family get a rebate? Same with bad genes that cause cancer early, it may be unpleasant to think about but it's natures way of removing that genetic weakness from continuing. Who are we to nark around with that process?

Unless they solve dementia, I don't particularly fancy living past 75 anyway.

Spirit_2

I think it is time the extended family made a comeback. My nan lived with us from when I was three and for a large part of my childhood she provided some care to us chidren whilst my mum worked, then latterly we lookd after her, she then moved to my aunts and although an inpatient in her last few days was never sent to a nursing home.

A downside was that for most of the years she lived with us I shared a bedroom with her and until my sisters were old enough to leave home as we were a family of Mum & Dad plus four children in a 3 bedroomed house.

Not a solution for everyone, but not tragic if it can be seen as a good thing and more of a social norm again.

PaulF81

All well and good but dementia is a truly upsetting disorder.,I still maintain I would prefer to die earlier but with my faculties than die in my body and become a hindrance.