To: H M Government
Integrate Health and Social Care Now.
Recognise that without robust, freely available, high quality social care provision, the NHS will be brought to its knees as a growing population ages and struggles with the obesity and diabetes epidemic. More and more old people are struggling with routine, everyday care because of the chronic underfunding of social provision by this government. As a result of preventable illnesses, thousands of people end up in hospital (at enormous costs to all of us) because there is insufficient care provision enabling people to remain in their own homes and there are too few first-class, affordable nursing homes.
Why is this important?
The costs to the NHS are crippling. A & E departments are struggling to cope because the elderly are becoming unwell for want of adequate social care provision and are being forced to attend hospitals where, once admitted, they are likely to occupy specialist beds that they do not need, because there is nothing else available in the community.
All old people deserve much better treatment than is currently available in Britain. As a country we spend less on health per capita than do most advanced economies. We are a wealthy nation but our disgraceful provision for the elderly is more like that experienced in a third world country.
All old people deserve much better treatment than is currently available in Britain. As a country we spend less on health per capita than do most advanced economies. We are a wealthy nation but our disgraceful provision for the elderly is more like that experienced in a third world country.
