Author Archives: wendy

If we don’t adjust things for their needs, the system will collapse

May 14, 2013   Carers, Older care

System for looking after elderly people is dysfunctional and getting worse, says care minister

Radhika Sanghani , Ella Pickover

Tuesday 14 May 2013

The Government’s Care and Support Minister minister Norman Lamb has warned that the way the elderly are cared for is “dysfunctional” and that it is “getting worse” as the population ages.

The Liberal Democrat said: “This is a new challenge – people with chronic conditions living for more years. If we don’t adjust things for their needs, the system will collapse.

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Elderly patients face longer hospital waits for care home transfer

May 14, 2013   Carers, hospital, Older care, Social care

Elderly patients are waiting more than a month in an NHS hospital before being transferred into a care home, campaigners warn today.

 

Patients now wait an average of 30.3 days before finding a place in a residential care home

6:30AM BST 14 May 2013

 

Researchers found older people are waiting on average three days longer in hospital for a residential home position than when the Coalition government took office.

Experts said this meant the NHS hospitals were funding a substantially higher proportion of social care costs because of “needless” waiting by patients.

Health officials are currently grappling with accident and emergency wards that are full to bursting, with part of the problem attributed to delays in discharging patients from hospitals.

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Modern life causing dementia earlier, study finds

May 13, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia, internet

Modern life is causing people to suffer dementia earlier than ever before, a study has found, with PCs, mobile phones, chemicals and electronic devices to blame.

Total neurological deaths in both men and women rose significantly in 16 of the countries covered by the research

6:55PM BST 12 May 2013

Researchers found a sharp rise in the deaths from dementia and other neurological disease in under-74s, and believe that the figures cannot be explained away by the fact we live longer.

Instead the “epidemic” is down to the environmental and social changes in the modern world, the authors claim.

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