This will cheer y'all up........what will nursing / retirement homes be like in the future ?

[SkintAsASkintThing]

Something happened that got me thinking, I went to pick up my friend for a walk out. When I got there they were having a wartime dance / afternoon tea thing / sing song as they often do on Sunday.

Friend couldn't wait to get out of there and when we did had a rant about having old stuff forced on her. She isn't old (( well to me she isn't )) having recently turned 70. But poor health, mobility and lack of family have forced the decision on her.......she's right tho. Vera Lynn et Al won't mean a thing to her. She'd have only been 40 in 1990. She's a huge fan of the smiths and U2, she likes exotic foods which isn't being catered for and trying different things but feels she's being forced into a box which isn't built for her.

As I said.it got me thinking. What will they be.like in 40years or so ?? Will we be raving in the corridors wearing day Glo tracksuits ? >

Someone on mumsnet has pointed out that Edith, Ivy and May will be pushing the wheelchairs of Sharon, Louise and Kylie due to name fashions.

I am encouraged to learn that there are forward-thinking care homes 😊👍

We have more Patricias, Joans and Jeans than I can cope with in our place. In their 80s mainly.

A few Margaret's but they are sadly becoming less and less, being in the 90 age bracket.

I’m hoping for

• computer games
• pride and prejudice reruns and other period dramas
• Beyoncé singalongs
• Avenger film marathons. Life is too busy right now for that.

I am encouraged to learn that there are forward-thinking care homes

More than you realise. The bad homes make the news (rightly so) and tar the entire sector with the same brush.

I work in an exceptionally good home, it's independently run so it isn't all about the money. It's a lovely place to work and live.

Beyoncé singalongs

We did have a member of staff in a Tina Turner wig, belting out her greatest hits. That was brilliant 😂

I'll be playing Civilization XXIV on the computer and listening to stuff like Nine Inch Nails. 🤣🤣

Op you're wrong. This didn't cheer me up

I'm with you, Owl

Tina Turner ahas cheered me up. :o

My 84 year old Aunt is in a Christian Nursing Home (it’s lovely).

But the only entertainment is missionary slide shows. Converting the uneducated in India and Africa 65 years ago.

To be fair my aunt loves it but when my “very Plymouth brethren” grandmother developed severe dementia she became a daily sherry drinking dominos shark..!!!

To be fair my aunt loves it but when my “very Plymouth brethren” grandmother developed severe dementia she became a daily sherry drinking dominos shark..!

I think most people are unaware of just how dementia can change your personality.

These homes aren't full of dribbling old people with no life and no sense of enjoyment. Ours is filled with laughter and compassion and fun. They don't want entertainment 24/7. Our lot have the weekends 'off' to relax and see family or just enjoy doing very little. Half the time they fall asleep during chair-based Tai-Chi, but by god they give it their all when they've the energy for it.

Previous big drinkers become tee-total, smokers forget they smoked. Once placid housewives turn into the loudest, most extravagant wise-cracking, twinkly eyed rum buggers imaginable.

Their families won't recognise them and its so bloody hard for them to lose the relative they knew, but that relative is a person who still has a life and it is up to the care setting to provide enrichment and keep their minds active. Regardless of whether they forget an hour later, they enjoyed it in the moment. They knew happiness and silliness in the moment.

Similarly, they can always feel love. They may not recognise a family member, but that family member can still reassure them and make them feel safe and loved. In that moment they are feeling and living. Their lives are now "moments" rather than days, weeks, years.

I don't mean to ramble. I feel very passionate about this. I've only worked in the sector a few years and I'm not high up by any means. I just hate the stigma that hangs over care homes because there is a lot of good out there and good carers and auxiliary staff who truly care.

I've worked in care homes for the past 25 years and very little has changed apart from some of the equipment is better.

Staffing levels are still inadequate.

Food is still dull and unappetising.

People are still stuck in front of the tv all day, with a radio blaring in the background for the staff.

Homes still put on a show for CQC then revert to their usual ways once inspection week is over.

You still get looked after by underpaid, overworked, stressed, miserable staff.

They still arrange patronising 'entertainment' such as singers, magicians, balloon acts and a visiting choir at xmas.

They still don't have time to take you to the toilet.

You still have to wear a bib at mealtimes.

Back in the day at least you could look forward to dying as a welcome release from the misery. Now, they work very hard to keep you alive for as long as possible with the aid of medication, tubing, thickened fluids, pureed diet and more tubing.

If you think euthanasia and assisted dying is not very nice, you have no idea of just how bad the alternatives are 🙂

I'm sorry you work in such dire places. Luckily not all homes are like that.

There had better be internet connection, or I'm going to kick off 😤

My DF is in his late seventies. Any care home he went to would have to play Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones, have the latest Netflix thriller on the telly and a good WiFi connection so he can play the latest Call of Duty.

I'm hoping they will have the same tech as now (because that's what I'm used to), just with bigger screens, bigger buttons and bigger fonts.

And decent headphones.

Staffed by lovely kind robots. Endlessly patient and with no phones.

A lot of people in them actually like talking about the war though, it was a major life event with far reaching consequences.

And yy to the sheer volume of jeans and Joan’s.

Sadly I think the most likely scenario is that the wealthy elderly will live out their days in comfort and the rest of us will be stacked up like livestock in small cells

Ha ha @doxxed, I am 64 and moved onto jeggings ages ago. God I love my elasticated waists!

I’m 67 and went to Halifax last week to see the levellers
I was encouraged at how many people were our age.
Wait till we all rock up to nursing homes
My mothers was like god’s waiting room

It was the dementia unit..it was like an endless conveyor belt of taking people to the toilet...or not
Never enough staff

Don’t lose your marbles...that’s my advice

I mentioned the inappropriate emphasis on WW2 music to my mum’s care home and they did take it on board.

Equally, I don’t think too many 80+ year olds are that interested in Phil & Holly droning on or maybe that’s just me so often change the TV channel to the 70s and 80s detective series which my mum loves.