9 ELDERLY PEOPLE DIE EVERY HOUR OF THE COLD.

gaelicsheep.
The reason Mrs. X would not let them was that she was making a protest.
Mrs. X had been in hospital and her cat had been put in a cattery, by social services (through the social worker). When Mrs. X came out of hospital the previous SW had refused to get the cat back.(feeling she could not care for it).

Mrs. X sobbbed to me that she had the cat "ten years, loved it and could look after it". Mrs. X IMO could look after it. Suffice to say that myself and the other social worker had words, (in which she shouted at me in a room full of people!)I got the cat back, and Mrs. Xs depression did lift, and her home returned to the cleanliness of before.

How many MNs would like a complete stranger to decide if they kept their pet or not?
There is little avenue for 'whistle blowing' in social services. Remember you work for the council you are criticising/up against. I could (sometimes) as I always worked as a locum, and could be asked 'not to come back next week'. Others had permanent jobs, and could not do this. To my shame I did not crticise/denounce the treatment of my clients enough, fearing the sack, I regret that, and would now rather risk the sack than an elderly person die from neglect.

Ivanhoe is right the pension is not enough, and also the finances that are provided for services for pensioners by local suthorities are very poor. In the present climate this will only get worse.

gaelicsheep. If the client does not open the door for MOWs and there is 'silence' from inside the flat/house. Normally MOws will contact their manager, and can contact the social worker. Normally carers and social workers will know clients and they are informed of client holidays/appts etc. If they are expected to be in and are not. If we fear the worst, then the police are involved and we break down the door.

If on the other hand the client is in and tells you to "go away" there is no legal way that MOWs can make to insure they take the MOWs, and if they continually refuse them they may be stopped. My client refused to let them in, I was informed visited and bought Mrs. X food from the local cafe. She had not eaten for two days.
She was obstinate true, but she was vulnerable and told me why she was being so unhelpful.

Complimentary - I am very glad for our old people that there are people like you out there. I hope you are in the majority of your profession.

Just out of interest, what happens if the door isn't answered to MOW? Is there a reporting/escalation procedure?

on many subjects

goodnight, complimentary.
You must tell us more another time. You have seen it firsthand. You make great posts in many subjects and are not restrained by any politically correct straightjacket.

Claig. I could tell more, but do not want to depress you or me before I go to bed. Suffice to say that Ivanhoes concern over the pension and lack of money, does not go nearly far enough in explaining the terrible plight some of our pensioners find themselves in. If you are old, poor and have no family in this coutry, you really are in the shite.

Night.

terrible stuff, it is shameful. Amazing that old people have so little voice and those in charge do so little for them.

Older people are dying through basic lack of care by social services. Some are so lonely they just give up. Day Centres are closed down right, left and centre. Clients with strokes were left alone all day in their flats, with the only person visiting being those who delivered MOWS.
Clients who could not make it to the lift, were left at home, when the ambulance drivers could not carry them down a flight of stairs (for health and safety reasons).
One client was not diagnosed with a brain tumour, even tho I had told them he did not suffer from dementia. Another woman (in residential care) was made to have a young male carer give her a bath, the woman was 87, ffs. I was told she was screaming in the bathroom, I had to intervene to make sure she had female carers. This client had no family. I shall not go on, as I'm sure plenty of MNs have elderly relatives in similar situations. Sometimes death is a release for an older person.

ivanhoe and gabby loggon - separated at birth?

No, I would just like to quantify the size of the problem.

How many of those died due to cold as a result of not being able to afford heating/transport/other financial reasons, and how many died as a result of things connected to the cold but which are unavoidable such as the increased rate of diseases in the population, falls on ice etc?

How much worse are we than Finland and Sweden per capita?

They even tell us that the financial crisis is our fault. If only we hadn't borrowed. It had nothing to do with those clever highfliers who will pack up and leave the country if we don't gratefully pay them their bonuses.

It's never the fault of those in charge, and so it carries on regardless. Plus ca change.

What percentage of old people die of cold because they have dementia and what percentage die out of fear of the heating bills that help pay fat cats' bonuses?

The government (but hopefully not this new one) would love you to think that it is the fault of society, just as some people blame the unemployed for not having jobs, while people are being laid off in droves and businesses are failing. It's all our fault, they say, nothing to do with fat cats flipping their homes.

They are supposed to represent the people - people who have paid into the system all their lives, and then find out that they are worse off than pensioners in most of Europe, when we are one of the richest countries in the world.

The problem with saying

Your point is wrong. The State pension is simply too low at £97 a week.

is that it does not take into account the wider issues.

It is true the state pension is too low. It does not follow that it is also true that it is because the state pension is too low that old people are dying from the cold.

It will be the case for some people, but it is used as a blanket explanation so that people don't have to consider the wider issues of how we treat people with dementia / confidence problems etc that can afford to pay energy bills but for whatever reason don't.

We can blame the government because they should give old people more money and because we have found someone to blame we no longer have to question our own culpability as members of a society that fails to take care of its elderly.

exactly. I should have said socialist imposters or progressives as they like to call themselves now.

Of course it is an issue of money. We have more pensioners living in poverty than does Romania.

Great posts by complimentary. Why aren't the caring, sharing socialists making more noise about the plight of our pensioners? Is it because they are old and vulnerable?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202378/Our-elderly-worse-Romanias-British-pensioners-poorest-Europe.html

You're missing the point. Some pensioners are too proud to seek help. But others, despite having plenty of cash, are dying in the cold because, as complimentary points out, they're simply forgetting to pay the bill. So the measure for utility companies not to cut off old people actually saves more lives than giving those people more money. If the state hands out extra money and thinks that solves the problem (a failing of the last government) the danger is it misses the real problem.

Chili1234. It is not as clear cut as money, as I say. I will say this, if you have seen the plight of some older people as I have, you would be shocked. Quite a few suffer from malutrition, some won't open the door to meals on wheels for days, if they like you as a social worker, they befreind you. I then can get hot food for them at the nearest cafe, I've done this on a few occasions. What worries me is that I always did things out of my remit as a social worker. Some would not do that, there is no legal requirement for Social Workers to make sure the client opens the door to MOWs, and that the client eats, only your conscience.

I feel that a full investigation/inquiry needs ot be carried out by this Government into why older people are dying at this rate. If we are truly a caring society, we must look after the most vulnerable. Find out what the problem is and at least try to fix it. I'm pleased IVANHOE has raised this issue.