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[TyJane]

homes petition

Hi!

All sounds so good, but we must not loose the fact, that nursing care should be free for people with dementia! The same as everybody else in this country enjoys!

They say people with Dementia are vulnerable and taken advantage of, you hear it all the time, but never more so once they are in the care system of this country, which I am ashamed of!

Just my own thoughts! Do not wish to cause offence!

regards
Jane

 

[Clive]

Jennifer

You are absolutely right it is far better to be the person who has not spent all their wages whether it is when you need Care or when the washing machine breaks down.

And you are absolutely right in that no one is suggesting that a person who is entitled to LA finance is feckless… or indeed is criticising a person who has spent all his or her wages. In fact I envy their actions. I wish my parents had. In fact I am very disappointed with my parents for not spending.

Where many people would differ from your interpretation is when you say “but neither did I feel resentful that there were people in the rooms around her getting the same quality care without paying any more than their pension. I was grateful that she lived in a society that would do that - I don't (and have taken out insurance policies to deal with that fact).”

To put the concern in your terms.

You have voluntarily taken out an Insurance Policy for which you pay from your wages. In this country we have no choice. We have to pay for Insurance through our National Insurance if we work.

When you eventually claim on your insurance policy you expect it to pay for YOUR health care.

In this country you find that your National Insurance will only cover your dementia Care Home if you have spent your wages… nothing to do with your Health Care needs.

We are not talking about millionaires, or even wealthy people. The person A and the person B you talk about can easily have worked together in the local factory, and earned exactly the same. They were both told their National Insurance payments were to cover free Healthcare from cradle to grave… but find this is not so when they need help.

Then, to make it even more annoying, the person who is unable to claim on his or her National Insurance to pay for Care finds that the Care Home puts a premium on the room charge so that it can subsidise the rooms being paid for by National Insurance (Social Services).

You may wish you lived in this society. Many people would disagree with you.



Clive


PS. As Jane said… Just my own thoughts! Do not wish to cause offence!

 

[jenniferpa]

Clive - just to clarify: I pay the equivalent of NI over here (SS taxes) which would entitle me to care in the event I had no assets. Having seen some of it, it's not care I want personally (here state funded care, is on the whole, CLEARLY state funded care) - hence the insurance.

Of course, though, this (CC) is not the only area in the NHS where rationing exists. People talk about care being free for other terminal conditions but if you are older, you may not even be able to find out if you have another terminal condition. Also, unless your consultant is willing to stick a label on your chart - "terminal cancer, less than 6 months to live" you may well not get NHS CC even then. It would appear it's not the "terminal" that has become the litmus test, but the "how long do they have left". Take Burfordthecat's father who "may" have a secondary cancer although they are "not sure" about that or where the primary is. Honestly, not being able to obtain basic medical tests appalls me. And the length of time people have to wait for referrals? Can you find an NHS dentist? Isn't all this rationing? Of course medical science has moved on since the 40s, as has life expectancy. We're living longer, but that means more chronic diseases: drugs/treatments/tests, everything's more expensive. And (you can see I'm on a roll here) there seems a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul: yes aricept may cost money and yes it may not work for everyone, but prescribing it may allow people to stay in their own homes much longer and thus mean they are not require NHS CC until later.

Ditto though: just my own thoughts.

 

[connie]

I witnessed exactly what Jennifer is talking about yesterday at the hospice, where I was visiting my brother.

It would appear it's not the "terminal" that has become the litmus test, but the "how long do they have left".

Elderly gentleman, having been in the hospice for balancing of pain relief, was told that he could go home, even though his condition is terminal. Elderly wife was clearly too frail to care for husband at home.

On being told to look for a nursing home in that case, they were then informed that they would be responsible for the costs, until such time as he was deemed to need the hospice services for pallative care.

Must admit I assumed all cancer care was free on the NHS.
Obviously his death was not imminent.