Letter - Hotel better than a care home for elderly
The poor old folk of the UK are in my opinion having a rough deal under this coalition, so I have a suggestion for those worrying about the cost of residential care.
The poor old folk of the UK are in my opinion having a rough deal under this coalition, so I have a suggestion for those worrying about the cost of residential care.
If they do not want to spend their hard-earned money on a money-grabbing nursing home, may I suggest they check into a hotel.
What with the average cost for a nursing home touching £200 per day, that is surely a better option.
Think of the benefits: loads of money left over for lunch and dinner in any restaurant they like, room service, laundry, TV movies.
Not just that but most hotels provide a spa, swimming pool, gym, washer-dryer, and other facilities.
The best part is being treated like a customer, not a patient. They would get a city bus from the bus stop across the street – and the oldies ride for free.
They could find a local church to go to on Sundays to meet other people.
It can take months to get into a decent nursing home. Hotels will take care of your reservation today, just book online.
Another advantage – the old folks are not stuck at one place forever. They can move from city to city, even country to country.
They will have nothing to worry about. TV broken? Light bulbs need changing? Shower needs fixing? Need a mattress replaced? No problem. They fix everything, and apologise for the inconvenience. It’s great value.
They even have night security and daily room service. The room service checks to see if they are alright. If not, they’ll call for help.
What more could the old folk of the UK want for?
Andrew Finch, Shrewsbury
Comments for: "Letter - Hotel better than a care home for elderly"
The Original Jake
"What more could the old folk of the UK want for?"
Carers in residence 24/7?
Just a thought.
The graduate
Give good Tips, and the staff will do anything most now have EU workers.
Sally
What a fantastic idea!!
michelle
What a brilliant idea, with the money saved you could pay for a care assistant to help with personal care!
eva land
If you are fit enough to stay in a hotel then quite frankly you are likely to be fit enough to stay at home.
If the problem is that your home is unsuitable for carers to come in and help maintain that status quo, ie: no downstairs toilet, level access etc. then you can get adaptations or even an extension built if you have equity in your home. Some equipment can of course, be loaned.
If you give up your home to pay for hotel bills bear in mind the hotel room would have to be totally disabled person accessible. Say then your old age problems progress, as they invariably do and maybe you become forgetful, or have a minor stroke,a fall,a problem with continence,are unable to manage showering or bathing alone, need to have dressings changed daily,or you are not aware you have
developed an infection,or are ultimately as lonely as you were at home, what would happen then?
Watchdog
You could then of course go into one of our fabulous NHS facilities free of charge to care for all of your needs.
It also cheaper to go on a cruise liner for a year than into a nursing home for a year.
After that who cares what happens.
Katherine de Gama
How silly, Andrew Finch. Have you ever had to sort out care for a relative or worked in a hotel? Those who can't look after themselves would be asked to leave within a couple of days.
Roger
Ok for the fit who should be supported in their own home instead of being warehoused.
How much does a hotel charge to wipe you bum, dipense your medicines, bath you, convey you round in a wheel chair and spoon feed you.
Most of the care homes I've seen are at least equal to three star hotels, that not the problem! The problem is how much of the money is for care and how much for profit.
The graduate
Many elderly people who enter retirement homes are not bed bound dependents.
eva land
Most care homes much like children's nurseries have a job staying solvent and the only way they can do it is expect very high standards/ skills from staff and in return offer the minimum wage.
Bill
Back in the 1950s my parents ran a hotel in Eastbourne and, like many hotels in the town, the business was underpinned by elderly permanent residents who were unable (or unwilling) to live with their families.
Those who had care needs were visited either by the NHS District Nurses or by private nurses (for those who could afford them). Some were visited twice a day.
And I'm sure the practice continues to this day in many resort towns, although i doubt the NHS stil puts in this type of support.
And of course for a 52-week room rental the hotels will inevitably offer discounts. I would expect at current costs you could be looking at as little as £50 a day for full board in a 3* independent hotel.
Yes, that's about £20,000 a year - but private care homes charge anything between £75,000 and £100,000. If you don't need 'full care' and have either the income or the assets it's an attractive proposition.
The Original Jake
Fawlty Towers... images of Miss Tibbs, Miss Gatsby and The Colonel spring to mind.
Sally
You beat me to it, I was about to say exactly the same!
eva land
Bill, I think you are forgetting that old today is becoming a octogenarian, whereas in the 1950s it was merely being a sexagenarian. Also there were something like 400 centurians in 1961 whereas today the census reveals over 10,000.
There was an added unnatural surplus of unmarried or widowed elderly ladies due to two world wars.
The standards of care even in the 1970s were not what we would consider acceptable today.
I can remember patients in psychiatric care, which was where many dementia sufferers often ended up, wearing hospital provided crimpline smocks split up the back for easy removal.
The care of the old was not seen as an individual area in it's own right whereas it is a specialism in the medical profession today.
I agree that staying in your own home is the best outcome for most of us but when people need 24 hour support it is not feasible, unless they can live with family.
Pychiatric inpatient care, elderly care and childcare are all very expensive to provide. They were previously provided cheaply for decades, usually by women who went from being full time mothers to being full time carers for elderly parents with no pay/support whatsoever.
Those days are gone. Mrs Thatcher famously said that time is money, market forces should dictate and they have. The problem is not all of us managed to marry a millionaire!
Ed
Even better than a Care Home or Hotel.If you have no responsibilities -Go and Rob a Bank--!!.If you get away with it,you have loads of money and if your put in prison by getting caught,no worries.All meals provided for,T.Vs,free electric and gas,no bills and even get pocket money and staff to wait on you for medical needs.