Older People
15th August 2007
"Older people do indeed deserve a far higher political priority" - writes Margot in a letter to The Telegraph
August 15th 2007
Dear Sir
Older people do indeed deserve a far higher political priority as you argue in your editorial today. But we need to accept that, thanks to this Government’s terrible treatment of older people, that a fair deal for them in the future will require a massive culture change and financial investment. In every area of government expenditure older people get a raw deal: the shift from NHS care (non means tested) into social care (means tested), the shift from adult social care to spending on children and young people, the means testing of pensions, the outrageous denial of effective drugs that can slow the effects of dementia and blindness are but a few of the injustices meted out to our old people who have contributed so much to this country.
But as yesterday's report made clear, the most damning indictment of this government's "concern for older people" is in nursing and residential care. On average Local Authority run homes cost more than £500 per week per resident to manage, a lot less than the top end of the private market. So why is it that Local Authorities will only fund privately run care homes to between £300 and £350 per week per resident? Who do they think is making up the rest? In some cases the older person or their family can top it up but what happens when they can;t? In the very sad case reported recently of a 102 year old woman who had been in the same care home for ten years in Nottinghamshire whose daughter could no longer afford the co-payment, the result is that she will have to be moved. That is what happens. People going into residential care are older than they used to be with more complex health needs. It is absurd to think that they can be properly cared for, twenty four/seven, on the pittance local government is now able to afford.
David Cameron should appoint a shadow minister for older people with a brief to review policy in all the above mentioned areas. And its about more than policy; we need a cultural change in the view society takes of people who have paid through their lives in so many ways, and still have so much to contribute to improving modern society overall.
Yours sincerely,
Margot James
Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Women
1E Priory Road,
Stourbridge,
DY8 2HG
