Don't know if anyone heard Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, talking on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning. He was telling listeners that to free up hospital beds over the busy holiday time, families of elderly patients should take them home to care for.
What he didn't tell listeners was where exactly they were supposed to get such last-minute help to care for their relatives at home - where were the high beds to suddenly appear from, the incontinence products, the help with changing bed linen many times a day, the district nurse to call twice daily ........
So the NHS Medical Director thinks all these things can be arranged now, in time for the holiday period?
What planet does this man live on? To get all these services would take at least three months and dozens of phone calls to organise at a normal time of the year. At a holiday time - he must be joking.
I don't have a knighthood but I do have the experience of 5 years caring full time for my elderly Mum, and 5 years before that as a part time carer when Mum could do bits for herself.
It seems to me that as soon as the people apparently in charge of providing services open their mouths, they show themselves to be completely divorced from the every day reality of us willingly trying our best to care for our beloved elderly relatives.
If Sir Bruce wants to free up his hospital beds, he should be pressuring the powers-that-be to get their act together and start co-ordinating a good level of social and medical care provided to people in their own home, instead of haranguing carers who may love to have their relatives home for the holidays if only they were offered the requisite good quality support.
And on that note I'll step off my soapbox!
What he didn't tell listeners was where exactly they were supposed to get such last-minute help to care for their relatives at home - where were the high beds to suddenly appear from, the incontinence products, the help with changing bed linen many times a day, the district nurse to call twice daily ........
So the NHS Medical Director thinks all these things can be arranged now, in time for the holiday period?
What planet does this man live on? To get all these services would take at least three months and dozens of phone calls to organise at a normal time of the year. At a holiday time - he must be joking.
I don't have a knighthood but I do have the experience of 5 years caring full time for my elderly Mum, and 5 years before that as a part time carer when Mum could do bits for herself.
It seems to me that as soon as the people apparently in charge of providing services open their mouths, they show themselves to be completely divorced from the every day reality of us willingly trying our best to care for our beloved elderly relatives.
If Sir Bruce wants to free up his hospital beds, he should be pressuring the powers-that-be to get their act together and start co-ordinating a good level of social and medical care provided to people in their own home, instead of haranguing carers who may love to have their relatives home for the holidays if only they were offered the requisite good quality support.
And on that note I'll step off my soapbox!
