How do we solve the social care crisis ?

[Worriedddd]

We have complex needs patients being stuck in hospital for up to 2 years. Some even more they are ready to leave just there's no social care placements and they can't get the right staff anyway. For minimum wage carers will have support people with very challenging needs. There is high risk of assault in many care settings employers don't offer the right training like de-escalation and breakway. . You could get more money working for Lidl and aldi. Even with immigration people leave and find another job. What's the solution to this ?

You’ve more or less said it yourself. Obviously more pay.

Never said they should give a shit

merely countering the view that ‘good’ care staff left

If they were anti vaxx they’re not ‘good’ care staff

I actually think that we should all have a responsibility to care for our own families before the state steps in. Too often people think that 'the state' should provide all the care required for society whereas I believe we have an obligation to care for our own first and foremost with the state being there as a back up rather than the first choice. This goes for both elderly and young people requiring care. If your parent needs care for a few weeks on leaving hospital then the expectation should be that family make arrangements to do so, in the same way that we care for children we should care for our older relatives. Of course this will never happen as people already have a massive sense of entitlement when it comes to childcare so they certainly aren't going to sacrifice anything to support family.

Convalescent homes aren't the same as care homes.

They are for those who need some level of care/surveillance for what is expected to be a short time of further recuperation before returning home. So it gets people out of acute beds after a couple of days, and provides a longer stay with some level of nursing - typically for a couple of weeks - then the patient returns home, well and fit enough for independent living or with needs that fall within their existing care package.

Yes, care homes can provide the same service, but at a cost of reducing beds for those with long-term needs or those who need respite care for other reasons

@PeachPies bit of an unfair comment to make about Carers being uneducated.
Not true at all. I worked as a Carer for many years in a Healthcare setting and was considering a career in Nusing but I was a mature lady, life was so busy at the time and I was worried about the workload. Many of my ex colleagues qualified as Nurses.

But how would that work? What financial support would be available for those who’d need to leave work to care for an elderly relative:

plus what about all those elderly people who have alienated their families

Due to the low pay and no entry requirements it does end up a large portion being uneducated.

That’s why it need to be better paid and an actual career. Not just something those who can’t get any other job do. It’s not fair on those that require care.

Tbh the amount leaving due to the covid vaccine requirement doesn’t disprove my point around education either.

Agreed.
Our family have said if any of us dement or no longer have quality if life, DNR for sure.

I agree with the poster who said we need to take more responsibility for our health and housing in old age. Just because an elderly person doesn't want to leave his unsuitable home shouldn't mean we provide multiple carer visits per day and ambulance call outs for preventable falls.
A relative is in the fire service providing and installing free fire alarms. He comes home in despair at the state some elderly people live in. Living in a single room of a massive home in the middle of nowhere with a single bar electric fire. On the other hand he visits new purpose homes for the elderly with a warden, alarms in the flooring that can detect someone has fallen and wide open corridors with chargers for mobility scooters. All this costs money of course.

Well, as a society we're all the worse off because they aren't.

@oakleaffy

Its not as simple as that.

Having a DNR in place doesn't mean no life prolonging treatment.

It just means no resuscitation if the heart stops.

People can have all sorts of life limiting conditions that won't kill them

We really aren’t

Those who are too thick or too selfish to get a vaccine to help ensure those they don’t care for die, aren’t good carers. They should have never been in role to begin with.

Hence why making the role better paid but balancing that with better qualified staff would be the way to go

@Eastangular2000 yes how does that work? Is it 'entitled' for a family providing 24-7 care for a profoundly disabled child to expect any social care support. Does a mother need to do this for her entire life?

This is what I mean, your first thought is what financial support is available? It should be something that families factor in, much like childcare. As I said this will never happen as the vast majority of people seem to have children without giving any thought as to how they will support them, the idea that people would sacrifice their living standards in any way to support their own families rather than expect the state to step in, is laughable.

Plane to Rwanda?

Indeed, however, the conversation has to be what is the cost. At what point is medicine going to overwhelm our social system?

Children are primarily the responsibility of their parents and yes I believe that parents have a greater responsibility for their offspring for their whole lives, than 'society' at large. The responsibility should sit with the family as the default with the state stepping in as a back up. Any parent mother or father, should consider looking after their child to be a lifelong responsibility, yes.

Well yes

Because people need to eat, heat their homes and keep a roof over their kids heads.

A lot changes in life, I’m lucky that I will be able to provide care for my parents if and when they need it. But that’s a privilege in todays climate

Basically the idea that old people can get out of paying for care that we have at the moment is ridiculous.

We need to up inheritance tax, and stop people from avoiding it. It is too easy at the moment.

Tbh many older people are in favour of this so I’d hope they’d be all for it

@Worriedddd
You received a bite from a human?
That is so unreasonable to expect people to deal with dangerous people on minimum wage-
If someone is at a biting stage, they need extremely well paid staff with protective clothing.
Kevlar or similar.
No one deserves to be bitten at work by a human.

Ive heard of carers being clawed at and attacked by people they are looking after-
One TA I knew ( Sadly RIP) was severely injured and it’s just not fair to expect people to be put at risk by violent and unpredictable clients.

I don't agree with euthanasia. Having worked in elderly care for a number of years I wouldn't trust relatives to make any decision that may impact their inheritance. Not all families of course
What I don't understand is why we keep people alive when they have no quality of life. My relative is in his 80s. He has dementia and hasn't been out of bed for 4 years. Doesn't know anyone. He would be horrified. He is on a cocktail of drugs and was treated for a chest infection in the summer. We are just forcing a long death on him and the NH are the only ones benefitting

"Any parent mother or father, should consider looking after their child to be a lifelong responsibility, yes" @Eastangular2000

Gets a bit tricky if they are also responsible for their elderly parents too, non?

I would imagine most parents would love to look after their children for life and it breaks their hearts not to be able to as the “care” homes are often anything but caring. Unfortunately not all are going to be able to if they get too frail or ill. The child is going to need the social care after they die anyway.

That is awful.
What is the point of living if one knows no one?
Just to “Exist” ?
Most people would not want that for themselves or a loved one.