Cost of care for the elderly

SVaz

The thought of ‘dormitory’ dementia homes is horrific.  Sexual assault of elderly Women would be off the scale and it’s bad enough now on mixed hospital wards. 
Men with dementia often display aggressive,  highly sexualised behavior.
Dementia patients deserve dignity and privacy, as do all patients.

MobileSaver

EnPointe said:

MobileSaver said:

Exodi said:

councils are on their knees and something has to give.

As you say, something has to give.

One approach is to reduce the cost of care and so perhaps allowing dormitory-style bedrooms instead of everyone getting a private room is a way of making limited funds go further? (A knock-on benefit being it would disincentivise many people from deliberately disposing of assets...)

 are you actually advocating  a return to  abusive county pauper lunatic asylum system ?

Er, no?

SVaz said:

The thought of ‘dormitory’ dementia homes is horrific.  Sexual assault of elderly Women would be off the scale and it’s bad enough now on mixed hospital wards.

There's some rather hysterical flights of fancy going on here. I was not proposing mixed dormitories. There's no reason we can't have safe, clean, tidy, well-equipped and well-staffed care homes just without the luxury of every resident having their own private room.

EnPointe said:

do you  understand  how undignified  not having a private room is when you  may  require intimiate care ?

That's why you would have the option of pulling a privacy curtain around each bed area, a method used in hospital dormitories every single day of the week.

As has been said, something has to give - dormitories could reduce costs anyway but just as importantly would almost certainly reduce the worrying trend of people deliberately disposing of assets so that local authorities have to foot their care bill...

Kirkmain

I raise this issue often. the whole system is set up to punish the fiscally responsible and the frugal. Live fecklessly, never own anything, never save, hand out money to your children as you go along, the state pays for your care. If you work hard, save, ask your children to support themselves, you are made to pay for the out of your own pocket AND subsidise those who never worked or saved or lives the high life/ gave money away to their children as they went along.

Pollycat

Kirkmain said:

I raise this issue often. the whole system is set up to punish the fiscally responsible and the frugal. Live fecklessly, never own anything, never save, hand out money to your children as you go along, the state pays for your care. If you work hard, save, ask your children to support themselves, you are made to pay for the out of your own pocket AND subsidise those who never worked or saved or lives the high life/ gave money away to their children as they went along.

If you can afford to fund your own care, you have CHOICE!
My Mum and Dad both worked hard, my Mum had 2 jobs at one time.
They didn't earn a lot but gave their 3 children a good life.
Both paid tax and both paid NI.
Their enjoyment in later life came from their static caravan and coach holidays within the UK.
They lived in a warden controlled senior people's flat and paid full rent and council tax.

My Mum was in 2 care homes for the last couple of years of her life.
I posted this on another similar thread:

Within a 6 month period she was the subject of 2 safeguarding investigations - 1 in each home.
The 2nd care home did not act in accordance with their processes and procedures after a fall at night. 2 days later she had another fall and was dead a week later.
The care home gave us her belongings.
Half the clothes did not belong to her.
A hairbrush clearly labelled with someone else's name was included.
The care home consistently failed to perform in accordance with their processes and procedures in a number of areas.

My complaint against the care home and LA was upheld by the Ombudsman.

I'm not saying all care home management/staff are bad but in those 2 cases, they were found to be lacking.

I'm not saying that a self-funding care home would have behaved any better.

What I am saying is don't dismiss all people who cannot fund their own care as having lived 'fecklessly'.