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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Ageing population crisis

127 replies

Cucumberpitta · 03/12/2021 07:32

Medical intervention means we are living longer than ever before. We are spending a larger proportion of our lives dependent on care because we are disabled, in pain, and/or without mental capacity.

There are not enough carers because it's an undervalued role with shit pay.
There seems to be no planning by govt to prepare for this shift - there will literally not be enough carers or tax payers to look after the elderly.

Not to mention the questionable morality of preventing the death of someone for them to live in pain, doubly incontinent, immobile and confused; with insufficient care because there's just not enough funding for them.

People talk of the immigration crisis, climate crisis....

The percentage of elderly needing care is set to skyrocket and we can't even look after the current numbers properly.

What is going to happen?

OP posts:
malificent7 · 03/12/2021 07:41

Yanbu...it is a time bomb. I think we will have to rebrand the caring profession as the worthwhile job it is. However euthenasia will have to be very tightly regulated...it could be a disastour . As long as its not in the hands of the wrong government.

Luredbyapomegranate · 03/12/2021 08:06

It’s not a great situation but it does not compare to the climate crisis, or the migration crisis that will come from that.

My guess is.. more and more emphasis on looking after health, working PT for longer especially in professional roles, more emphasis on multi-gen living - handy for childcare and housing costs, higher taxes on care, a fuck of a lot of money on medical research and assisted living, more carers (probably those migrants..), more thoughtful use of medical intervention rather than a huge rise in euthanasia - but yes some of it - a lot of chat about living wills and controls.

I’d take care of your own health and finances with it all in mind, but wouldn’t fret about it beyond that. Humans are good at solving social problems and it is not climate change.

Iggly · 03/12/2021 08:07

This isn’t new and has been talked about for at least ten years. And no government has the will to get a grip and deal with it.

ShirleyPhallus · 03/12/2021 08:13

I think what I love most about mumsnet is the positivity

GnomeDePlume · 03/12/2021 08:15

At an individual level get wills in place, powers of attorney etc. DH and I (mid 50s) have started clearing our home of clutter we are keeping because we are keeping. We are starting to have proper conversations about DNR (I do not want to be resuscitated).

People can help themselves to make it much easier for others to care for them.

SilverPeacock · 03/12/2021 08:28

This has been known and talked about for at least 20 years when I started my career and probably well before. There has been no coherent planning for it thus far. The current very real crisis has been creeping up for years. People don't seem to care unless it directly affects them but it probably will affect them when they get old or their parents do.

SilverPeacock · 03/12/2021 08:33

In Scotland there is plan for national care agency much like nhs but for social care. Whether this will be a help or a hindrance remains to be seen.

TeloMere · 03/12/2021 08:35

Perhaps it will be solved by the obesity crisis.
I read somewhere that todays young people will be the first generation to have a lower lifespan than their parents.

SilverPeacock · 03/12/2021 08:38

@TeloMere

Perhaps it will be solved by the obesity crisis. I read somewhere that todays young people will be the first generation to have a lower lifespan than their parents.
That won't stop them from needing social care though
SilverPeacock · 03/12/2021 08:40

I suppose eventually demographics may tip the other way but I don't think we can wait for that.

heidbuttsupper · 03/12/2021 08:42

@GnomeDePlume this is a brilliant attitude to have. I've been trying to talk to my mid 60s parents about poa and wills etc

Cocomarine · 03/12/2021 08:42

@ShirleyPhallus

I think what I love most about mumsnet is the positivity
🤣 properly made me snort - thank you!
toconclude · 03/12/2021 08:43

@Iggly

This isn’t new and has been talked about for at least ten years. And no government has the will to get a grip and deal with it.
Twenty at least. But somehow someone always thinks they are the first to understandHmm Funny how it always seems to end with a hint that old and sick people should just save the younger generations some cash and just die already...
fakereview · 03/12/2021 08:50

@TeloMere

Perhaps it will be solved by the obesity crisis. I read somewhere that todays young people will be the first generation to have a lower lifespan than their parents.
Well if people start dying in their 60s and 70s of strokes and heart attacks they won't generally have lived long enough to suffer with dementia I guess. It will certainly reduce the need for social care. But it's very sad that we've gone backwards in health outcomes.

As for wanting a DNR in your 50s - that makes me very sad. My mum has one but she is in her 80s.

GnomeDePlume · 03/12/2021 08:54

@heidbuttsupper we had a very powerful lesson when DFiL died suddenly and we found that DMiL's dementia was far more advanced than we had realised (DFiL had been covering it). The lack of POAs made sorting her care more complicated than it needed to be.

I spoke with DM about the problems this had caused and she cracked on and got hers in place. We updated our wills a couple of years ago and will get POAs in place in the next year.

Amalfa · 03/12/2021 08:56

We need to legalise euthanasia imo. When people are terminally ill or have dementia they should be able to go to sleep as peacefully as animals do.

Sausagedogsarethebest · 03/12/2021 08:59

I'm late 50s and separated. I want to live long enough to enjoy some of my heard earned pension but not so long that I'm 'existing' rather than living.

My DM is 85, widowed, lonely, bad health and spends her days sitting watching tv, with the occasional visit to the shop or doctors surgery. She worries about bills and Covid, and always seems to have some ailment causing her pain. I don't want that to be my twilight years.

heidbuttsupper · 03/12/2021 09:00

Thank you @GnomeDePlume I am going home to see my parents next week and I am going to raise it again. My DH died young and even sorting his small affairs out was extremely difficult (and still ongoing almost 4 years later)

Tal45 · 03/12/2021 09:01

I think everyone should have the right to choose euthanasia if they have dementia/are in constant pain that can't be alleviated/have a terminal condition. I think it's awful when people go to court suffering and begging to be allowed to die and are told no it's not legal. There is literally no reason to force people to live against their will except that some people don't like the idea of euthanasia - well some people don't like the idea of abortion either but women are given autonomy over their own bodies there - why not in this case?

Sugarplumfairy65 · 03/12/2021 09:02

@Amalfa

We need to legalise euthanasia imo. When people are terminally ill or have dementia they should be able to go to sleep as peacefully as animals do.
I have an incurable cancer and need some care with my daily living. I'll always need this care. Does this mean I should be put down?
ElectraBlue · 03/12/2021 09:04

Maybe people should stop voting Tory governments in if they really want social care to get proper funding and attention...

Hoowhoowho · 03/12/2021 09:04

It’s a problem that will be resolved within a generation though, once the baby boom generation die off, the population will be fairly stable, this isn’t a long term ticking timebomb, it’s the problem of a large generation hitting their elderly years. To get through, immigration is probably the answer, Brexit is badly timed for that.

RandomLondoner · 03/12/2021 09:05

It's not a crisis. People don't get old suddenly, and the number of old people doesn't increase suddenly. The number of people needing care will never outnumber the number of under-70-year-olds capable of doing it.

(There have been similarly unnecessarily worried threads on here asking what people are going to do for jobs when robots and AI are doing everything. The most useful thing about this thread is that we can link to it as an answer whenever someone starts one of those.)

Ylvamoon · 03/12/2021 09:05

My views on this are very controversial,
but interested in what other MNetters think.