Tag Archives: Older care
Care Home Costs To Be Funded By State Loans
Plans to let the elderly delay care home costs until they die through the use of state loans are to be outlined by the Government.
9:53am UK, Wednesday 11 July 2012
By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent
Pensioners are to be offered state loans so that they do not have to sell their own homes to cover the cost of residential care, under new Government plans.
People will be able to borrow money from councils at nominal interest rates to finance going into care and the cash would not have to be paid back until after they die.
The scheme, being introduced across England in April 2015, is intended to help around 40,000 people each year who are forced to sell their homes to cover care costs.
But critics are already attacking the strategy, arguing that families will still have to sell the property when their relative dies in order to pay back the loan and will also be landed with the interest.
Loneliness is ‘major health issue’
It is also associated with poor mental health and, more surprisingly, with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and dementia.
By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main,” wrote the poet John Donne in the 17th century, in an expression of loneliness and longing.
Some people seek isolation, but few choose to be lonely, primarily because it isn’t good for us.
Loneliness doesn’t just make people unhappy, research shows that it has an effect on mortality too.
It is also associated with poor mental health and, more surprisingly, with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and dementia.
Loneliness is a public health issue that should be tackled urgently, says Laura Ferguson, director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, a coalition of organisations working to combat the problem including Age UK.
