Jeremy Hunt: UK should adopt Asian culture of caring for the elderly
Health secretary says families should take in elderly relatives when they can no longer live alone as they do in Asian cultures
"Jeremy Hunt will today tell British families they should follow the example of people in Asia, by taking in elderly relatives once they can no longer live alone...
...He will say: "In those countries, when living alone is no longer possible, residential care is a last rather than a first option...
...Hunt will defend his plans to set up a rigorous, Ofsted-style inspection regime aimed at rooting out abuse and poor quality care in residential homes. Under the new chief inspector of social care Andrea Sutcliffe - who he refers to as "the nation's whistleblower-in-chief" - 25,000 care homes will be inspected by March 2016 and given online "easy to understand" ratings...
...The Care Quality Commission is to take on 600 volunteers with first-hand experience of the care system to help carry out the checks. .."
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/18/jeremy-hunt-uk-families-asia-elderly
Well, good for Mr. Hunt. He does try to sound reasonable, and nearly makes it.
It all looks to be a jumble of sweeping statements passing itself off as a coherent plan. A string-vest:warm in winter, cool in summer.
If, as Mr. Hunt sees it, care homes were anything other than a last resort, right here - right now, there would be a great many more of them.
All Hail, the growth in supported accommodation, where the elderly/ageing can down-size to maximize their continued independent lives, under the watchful eye of a small team of facilitators.
As far as raising the pension age goes, it appears to be no more than a tussle between paying-out this benefit other than that one, and does nothing to address youth unemployment or the transfer of practical skills.
Mind you, all of this, Asianification, does fit in with the UK's 'drive' to become a tax-haven. We are to become desert-islanders, Europe's Maldives.
An over-rosy view of Climate Change, if ever there was one.
