To think there should be a better safety net for the elderly?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

In my job I often have occasion to visit the elderly in their homes to care for their pets. This is always during a visit they have phoned and booked. In know a lot of these clients are vulnerable and I am very careful how I conduct my visits often leaving written details of what I have done and ongoing treatment.
One of my clients lives in sheltered housing I last visited her in September, I sent the bill the first week in October has not been paid, so it went out again last week with a little not please contact us to clear the balance.
This triggered a series of phone calls in which it becomes clear her memory is deteriorated very badly and she is not only confused, but quite distressed with it. Each phone call takes 10 minutes of me confirming that I have visited her she does know me to calm her down.
So the housing association has removed the warden and replaced them with a caretaker who just looks after the buildings, but does not keep an eye on the residents. I am aware that this elderly lady's family live a abroad so no family locally keeping an eye on her. Some of the flats are part of a charity, but she is not one of the charities tenants so is not visited by their welfare officer regularly.
In desperation I phoned the GP's surgery and fortunately I have known the GP well for years. I explain my concerns in particular that during one of the phone calls it was obvious that the lady had a coping mechanism that was clearly not working for her any more for her. Lovely GP said she would get relevant authorities involved.
But really it took me who saw this lady in September and then spoke on the phone to her yesterday and today to highlight that she is clearly not coping at this moment in time.

Yes, there should be a better safety net!

Thank goodness you picked up on this, and that you had the relationship with the gp so that you were listened to.

You were the safety net for this elderly woman. Hope she gets the care she needs now

Do you or her doctor's have her family's nr. abroad?

Me and my sisters all live abroad but were there for our parents when they needed us... over quite a few years

Thing is, there is no "safety net" any more.

There is a safety net, you triggered it, before she came to harm.

If it was announced next week that we all would have people knocking on our doors to make sure that we were not developing a Mental Illness, do you think that you would be happy with that?

There is outrage if "The School", or HV wants to check on a family, on here.

Why should someone have to accept interference from a government representative, because they are aging?

There is no "the elderly", they are individual aging adults.

My Mum has lung cancer, she is 85, she worked up until three years ago as a Lollypop lady, after retiring.

She often resents the involvement if the health professionals, she would never accept any outside help, she has managed her life through younger conditions than anyone living now in the UK will ever know.

If you worked differently with older people you would realise that they often don't want help, until crisis point, unfortunately, but if you look at them as equals came to you, then you could understand why.

I worked in end of life care, when the initial planning stage would start, a Social/Community worker was usually rejected until the person became unable to cope.

This is why we all need to keep an eye on our vulnerable neighbours.

Tougher conditions, not younger.

I think there should be a better safety net for older people too. In much the same was as we have developmental checks for toddlers that aren't compulsory, we could do the same for older people.

If they don't need or want it, they don't have to have it, but if they do need it and want it then it should be there to ensure that vulnerable people don't slide off the radar completely and end up really suffering.