Forum Topic

Strong and stable? Or weak and wobbly?!

I see the Tories are now back tracking like mad about their horrible social care funding proposals which were supported by - nobody

Chris Hurley ● 3263d24 Comments

I agree about the hospital appointments - they can take absolutely ages - it is often a whole day lost off work - for two people - especially if you have to travel.  Yet they are very very important, and if you miss them you can be dropped off a list - but then you can be anyway - so you must follow everything up.  It is very important that sight and hearing appointments are kept up with.  Funnily we found that sight appointments were very efficient and came regularly - but hearing ones didn't.  It takes much more time for everybody to deal with a person who can't hear what you are saying so it is really a very stupid saving-that-isn't.Memory is multi-sensory!There is no hospital transport in some places.  Sometimes there can be a rota of local people who provide this service.  Volunteers can be hard to find though.

Philippa Bond ● 3259d

Yes the list goes on, and is being spent on things necessary to continue every day life, not wasted.

Janice Evans ● 3262d

And don't_forget, there are large numbers(self included) who have no family and whose friends are of a similar age and state. I do not own my home, but see savings dwindling rapidly.Even paying for things like chiropody, physio, help with various chores that you can no longer do yourself is difficult and expensive, and now it looks as though we'll lose beating and tv licence allowances. It's lovely being old!!!

Nina Battleday ● 3262d

Unfortunately although we are led to believe that National Insurance is a tax for a specific purpose as I understand it it just goes into a general tax pot with other taxes.  I don't know why working people no longer pay it after a certain age.I think we all ought to be paying more.  Other countries in Europe pay more and the countries where care is much better apparently pay a lot more.I really agree about all the little things which are expensive - like the chiropodist - whose help can be needed to help people get back on their feet and walking and out of hospital but which the hospital could not organise.

Philippa Bond ● 3263d

There's no real answer to it, it was the night calls that were the worse, having to go out at 2 in the morning and used to get worried I would be stranded outside somewhere, not a time to venture out on your own and unable to arrange to go out myself in case was called back, that did happen one day and had to leave my meal and get to my Mums so never went out again.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

It really does Janice, It is a real fight to maintain a sense of your own identity. Very tough. I have an ailing godmother in Hammersmith and my proximity means I am permanently on call.

Kim Rugg ● 3263d

It's difficult with family helping because it takes over your life completely, we did help but I got lumbered with hospital appointments, dentist, doctor because of living nearest, sometimes all day job, quite exhausting so my work life suffered, would not recommend it, although felt it was my duty.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

That sounds good Kim but we must remember they have paid N.I all their lives and would be paying twice.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

Well one good thing that you can say about the politics at the moment is that it has raised a little more awareness of the situation.I still think it needs cross-party work and agreement.The point is that we don't know what the future will bring for us and that is why we should be looking out for each other and not just for ourselves.There is a problem where there is not enough help from family and state and outsiders and friends can be afraid of becoming too involved.  Yet carers need a break too.My FIL had a lovely lady from the library who visited.  There was more chatting than changing of books involved.  Please volunteer!

Philippa Bond ● 3263d

People are already having to sell their homes to pay for their care. It is happening now and I believe the floor at which the state picks up the bill was a lot lower than £100 000. This policy was sensible but many people who saw this as "stealing their homes", more likely tory voters, went up in arms. Indeed my dyed in the wool blue godmother was incandescent with anger at TM and announced she was voting Labour. TM panicked when she saw how angry her fanclub was and Uturned putting a ceiling on how much one should pay before the Tax payer picks up the tab instead. This can amount to hundreds of thousands for one person. Come on politicians this huge crisis in the waiting needs more creative and brave thinking.If announcing  increasing taxes is impossible for a tory how about offering a "care insurance" scheme that would cover the cost should you be one of the 10% of us that needs extensive care. Those who chose not to contribute would risk having to sell their home cover the cost, those with insurance, a voluntary tax, would have the cost covered.

Kim Rugg ● 3263d

There are so many other things they have to pay for when they can no longer do it themselves like a cleaner, a gardener if they have a garden, the laundry service and shopping imagine if we had to pay others to do all that for us how much are you left with for the food, bills etc., its an impossible situation for so many and any savings if they have any get used up very quickly.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

Met an older gentleman this afternoon who had me in tears (afterwards). His wife was upstairs bedridden and attended four times a day by a team of ever changing carers. His two grown children live in New Zealand and California. He had assumed all end of life care would be free for both of them and that they would pass on their home intact to the grandchildren, He was angry and very frightened. What would happen if he became dependent like his wife? I thought myself that might not be so far off.I've kept an eye on several lone older persons over the years and it seems to me that few of us really register that there are likely to be charges no matter who is in charge and prepare in advance for that.  Our care needs to include some social interaction too. Just to be able to talk things over with a trusted confident is invaluable.

Maire Lowe ● 3263d

If TM targets the elderly, she will lose all those votes and won't get in, that worries me the most.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

I might be completely mad but would have brought in a second lottery with funds going solely to help towards the NHS and care needs.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

I agree with Gary for a change. Both sides come across as a bunch of losers with half baked ideas. Gawd help us all..

Keith Iddon ● 3263d

Think they have because if your parents suffered through the war years it does rub off and you suffer but in other ways.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

'the elderly struggled more than anyone during their lifetime'You need to be 90 to have fought in the war, 80 even to remember it much. Most pensioners haven't lived through hard times and the poorest won't lose their heating payment.

Susan Kelly ● 3263d

Agree, but cutting heating allowance we will have even more sick elderly people.  It doesn't help keep telling us the young are struggling as the elderly struggled more than anyone during their lifetime and most of them even now struggle in silence,  Im still for the Tories though.

Janice Evans ● 3263d

I agree with Charlie. What are we going to do? Wait until all the care homes have gone bust, all the carers left the profession in despair, and every hospital bed in the country is blocked with sick pensioners, and then decide how to pay for it?

Susan Kelly ● 3263d

Is Keir Starmer a Marxist? Who knew!

Chris Hurley ● 3263d

What and have two Marxist, IRA /HAMAS supporting individuals negotiate with the EU about our economic future, which even Siddique Khan says will damage London. What a poor choice we have.

Gary Sinclair ● 3263d

As soon as the Tories moved away from their Brexit 'strong and stable' mantra and tried to float some actual manifesto policies, it all started to fall apart.  A big tactical error on their part, but possibly just in time for the rest of us to realise what's at stake and get rid of them on June 8th.  Otherwise it wouldn't be until after the election result that we'd discover what their real intentions were. At least now we know.

Peter Evans ● 3263d

Errr...actually I think they were the first people to even vaguely try and get a grip on the single biggest economic timebomb facing our country...and yes it has been successfully crucified on the altar of crass, one liner politics.  "Dementia Tax". "Death tax". It was never either, but hey ho who cares when we can reduce poltiical discussion down to two word insults. By the way this isn't a party political point, because the Tories are just as bad with their tedious "strong and stable" mantra and"Back to the 70s" dismissing of the whole Lab manifesto. If we are ever going to fix the care system in a country with a drastically ageing popultaion...someone sooner or later is going to have to do something unpopular. Tories mistake for foolishly doing that in a manifesto when they should have just chucked in some tax cut sweeties for the middle class.

Charlie Mawer ● 3263d

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-40001221?SThisFB

Chris Hurley ● 3263d