A design for living

You don’t become a homeware giant like B&Q by resting on your laurels and last week, I saw what the store has planned for its elderly customers in its Easy Living range. And although what they offer is not revolutionary – nor cheap – it does show how major retailers are taking the issues of an ageing population seriously.

From a walk-in bath to a moveable cupboard, B&Q have thought of everything that you could want in the bathroom, lounge and kitchen and adapted it specifically for the elderly or disabled.

For a mainstream trader, it’s a risky move, not least because the floorspace in the showroom could be taken up with another equally-expensive, modern installation, targeted at the affluent 40-somethings building a luxurious family home.

However, it should be commended, simply because it highlights the need for specialist equipment for an increasing part of the population – and the fact that a trained fitter can do the installation for you takes away the burden of self-assembly.

Whether they sell or not is another matter, but it may lead other retailers to follow suit – and that can only be a good thing.

Cost of care homes

In 20 years time, a four-year stay in a care home will cost an eye-watering £223,000, according to a Saga survey.

That’s double the cost of four years care now and will no doubt strike fear into Baby Boomers’ hearts everywhere – it is they who will be paying those costs. Their children will also have been alarmed by the report - they could see their inheritance disappear if their parents are in residential care for any length of time.

It highlights the need for people to plan ahead for care. While previous generations may have relied on (or hoped for) the state to provide for them in old age, it is becoming clear that, especially with an aging population, this is not going to happen. It is becoming accepted that some, if not all, care costs will have to be met by the person in question or their family.

The care funding system is being reviewed and is likely to be reformed later this year. It is hoped that the much-disliked means testing system will be abandoned with a financial model based on a partnership between state and individual replacing it.

While many people will be reluctant to plan for something that may never happen, a system like this may prompt the more savvy to put something away for their old age. If they know they cannot rely on the state and do not want to face the possibility of having to sell their house to fund their care, then a bit of financial planning now could make things a lot easier in 20 years time.

Behind the headlines

Once again, a case of alleged neglect in a care home has hit the headlines. The story of 94-year-old Molly Darby was carried by most of the national dailies today.

It is alleged that within four weeks of going into the Beeches Residential Care Home in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire, Mrs Darby went from being in relatively good physical health to arriving at hospital with a chest infection, pneumonia, septicaemia, a urinary infection, a bad ear infection and pressure sores.

Unsurprisingly, the newspapers carried this in some depth, some with a more sensational slant than others. The Daily Mail’s headline in particular caught the eye; ‘Care home left my mother looking like a concentration camp victim’.

For an older person, who might be getting frail, reading stories like this will make the thought of moving into a residential home terrifying.

Indeed, two thirds of older people are already “frightened” of the prospect of ending up in a care home, according to a recent ICM survey.

But a little perspective is needed here. While there are some shocking examples of neglect and abuse in care homes these are very much in the minority.

Obviously newspapers pick up on these stories because bad news sells – it makes a better headline than ‘Older person has really nice time in care home shocker’. But these stories do distort the public perception of care homes and the industry.

In reality, many people in care homes are very happy – the story of Peggy Hughes (http://www.bettercaring.com/editorial/article3.aspx?id=792) is typical of what we hear.

For some people, going into a care home can give them a whole new lease of life. Rather than worrying about looking after the house, washing or cooking, they can focus on their own interests. Others make a whole new network of friends, instead of being isolated in their own homes because they are too frail to go out.

I’m not saying newspapers should not highlight cases of neglect or abuse – they should because such cases need to be highlighted, stamped out and the perpetrators dealt with. But more stories about the other side of the care home industry could stop misconceptions growing among the public and help people see that moving into a care home is not a last resort.

Sticks and stones…

The idea may seem a little absurd, but over-60s playgrounds seem to have found favour with the young-at-heart.

A phenomenon in Germany, they’re now making their way over here. Manchester laid claim to the first last month, and a village in Hampshire has said it is investigating the idea.

But most bizarrely of all, Lytham pensioners have now contested the claims by Manchester that their playground came first. The sticking point? Their own playground hasn’t ‘officially’ opened yet…

In this day and age, that’s like a red rag to a bull – especially in the laws of the playground.

No doubt a turf war is just around the corner, with battle-weary pensioners stalking their rivals round the ‘Happy Big Wheel’ or ‘Massage Rub’. Of course, Lytham in Blackpool was in the running for one of the best towns in Britain – meaning they should be better-armed than their inner-city rivals should any trouble start brewing…

Of course, it’s all little more than handbags at dawn, and is very useful in promoting the benefits of over-60s playgrounds.

But it begs the question; can’t they just grow up, act their age and play nicely?

On the road again

Journalists are often required to do something a little out of the ordinary – and here at Bettercaring, it’s no exception.

But jumping behind the steering column of a jumped-up go-kart masquerading as a mobility scooter is perhaps my strangest assignment yet…

The thing is, everything about a mobility scooter is presented in an over-earnest way. Some people would even go as far to say they’re stigmatised as being a sign of age. And with names completely disassociating it from its major use (as in getting someone from A-to-B), they are probably right.

However – and this may sound perverse – I actually had FUN testing it. A mobility scooter is a rare thing that is both functional and enjoyable. And although people who are losing mobility might not find much fun in being confined to a scooter, it does have its advantages.

For example, 4mph on the pavement is nothing to grumble about, and you can even crank some up to 8mph on the road if you’re feeling adventurous.

And just think of the joy you can get by indiscriminately running over those miserly folk who’ve spent the last five years moaning that you walk too slow on the pavement (although for legal reasons, you probably shouldn’t do this – maybe just threaten to…).

Better still, it even comes with a horn, meaning you can toot at all the young ladies as you pass by. And everyone can appreciate the fun in that.

The simple life

In interviews for features for Bettercaring.com, health and social services often get short shrift from people who’ve had bad experiences.

Yet while people are happy to complain to journalists like me, they are generally more reluctant to make a formal complaint. The reasons, they say, are simple; the complaints procedure is over complex, inefficient and not worth the bother.

It appears the government has agreed. After making a commitment to reform the complaints procedures for health and adult social care in its White Paper ‘Our health, our care, our say’ last year, the Department of Health has now revealed how it plans to do this.

For example, there are currently separate complaints procedures for health and adult social care which makes it difficult for people who use a combination of services to make a complaint. Under the new regime there will be a unified complaints procedure, which should help simplify matters and encourage more people to complain.

Elsewhere, the new system will also focus on local resolution and then - if unresolved – it will be investigated by the Health or Local Government Ombudsman. This will replace the often lengthy and bureaucratic procedures currently in place.

Anything that helps simplify the system should be welcomed. For too long the system has been over-complicated and more of a hindrance than a help to the service user, and has put many off making a complaint.

But if these reforms are to be successful, it should be heavily publicised, to ensure older people especially know about their rights and that it will not prejudice their care in the future.

Hopefully this will be the first of many reforms to simplify the health and social care systems this year; social care funding is next on the list, with a Green Paper due in the next few months.

From what I’ve heard, it can’t come soon enough.

Under the cosh

Stories of care homes using a ‘chemical cosh’ of strong drugs to effectively turn dementia sufferers effectively into zombies – the dead living, if you will – are back in the news.

While this story has come to national prominence several times before – including a Panorama programme late last year – it is important that it is revisited; the unnecessary drugging of residents - in this case with antipsychotic drugs - is something that should be clamped down upon.

While the numbers of Alzheimer’s sufferers kept sedated with antipsychotic drugs vary - up to 100,000, depending on where you read – it is still a significant proportion of sufferers in the UK.

Worse still, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust has found that putting Alzheimer’s sufferers on these drugs does not do most of them any good – and shortens their life in some cases. But when you consider these drugs were designed to treat schizophrenia that is perhaps unsurprising.

If, as some claim, dementia patients are drugged mostly to make life for care home staff easier, this needs to be addressed because it is an abuse of the sufferer’s dignity.

A potential solution is for care home staff to receive compulsory and better training in dementia. Currently, training is optional and can comprise a course lasting for less than a day – barely time to skim the surface of such a complex condition.

If all care home staff were sent on specialist courses, lasting at least a few days, it could make a big difference to their understanding of the condition and help them to deal with sufferers in a more positive way and improve their quality of life.

But whether this happens is another matter. Many care home managers will claim they do not have the budget for costly training courses and with the economy slowing it is unlikely there will be any government grants.

Working 9 to 5

For carers who also have a full-time job, juggling the two responsibilities can be a struggle, especially when working a rigid nine-to-five. As any carer knows, caring needs do not fit within handy, regular timeframes, and employers are not always sympathetic to requests for time off or a change in working hours.

But the case of Sharon Coleman may help more carers to get the flexibility they desire. Yesterday, she won the latest round of her legal battle in the European Court of Justice to end discrimination against carers.

Coleman, who has a son with hearing and breathing problems, claimed her employers discriminated against her and treated her differently from parents whose children were not disabled. She was branded as lazy and manipulative when she tried to take time off to care for her son.

She claimed constructive dismissal and disability discrimination. A tribunal referred it to the European court, which has initially sided with Coleman.

If this is confirmed by a panel of judges later in the year, the law against discrimination on the grounds of disability could be extended to all carers of elderly or disabled people – around six million in the UK.

While the right for carers to request flexible working was introduced last year – several years after it was for parents, incidentally – employers can still turn the request down if they wish. But if this case goes through, employers will need a very good reason for turning a request down.

Employers may not like the prospect of this, but if handled sensibly, it should not impact adversely on their business. Indeed, flexible working can often increase productivity and loyalty. But for carers, it could be the difference between keeping a job and becoming a full-time carer only.

Even if this judgement does lead to a change in the law, juggling full-time caring and full-time employment will still be a challenge. But it could at least give some protection to carers and ease some of the stress, so they can concentrate on doing both jobs to the best of their abilities.