2017’s best conversations – what were your highlights?

If I knew how to put my face on you could stare at my ugly mug day and night Face on !! do you paint yours on like many ladies do ? I do not think you do that Beryl lovely lady you seem to be

Thank you bishbut, I think I can safely claim to be by far the oldest regular so it’s not what you paint on your face, it’s the smile that counts……….best face lift ever! We do have pictures of all the mods, so are the regulars too bashful to come out of their shells? Must say I preferred Patrick’s previous smiley picture with teeth 🙂

Nothing you wear is more important than your smile – Connie Stevens

In what way has the “Care Home problem ” been sorted ?? Sophie.
I have followed the Which ? campaign from the beginning and all I can say that is that it was totally biased approach focussed against the Care Home Sector and has totally ignored the alternatives such as the NHS Trusts Elderly wards , Care at peoples own homes and Hospices etc. There are over 400000 (Four hundred thousand) people living in Care Homes and as far as I am aware none have them have been approached for their views.
I have been running Care Homes for over 30 years in all stratas of the Society and I am still trying to learn what is the perfect solution for all people all the time. Which has raised a few issues from a few people , but they have not dealt with the basic problem of funding. It is all very well having a wish list for 24/7 one to one care ,cruising around the Caribbean with P&O and all for £1000 a week . There are Hotels in Switzerland with wellness clinics integrated (but no cruises) which charge £6000 a day (£42000 a week) .
Just out of interest have which ever compared prices in the Hospitals Trusts etc with rates paid by local Authorities to Care Homes. surely they realise that all Care facilities charge different fees.

The Care Home issue will not go away until intervention by relatives or next-of-kin takes precedence over (a) the standard of care offered (b) the price of that care and (c) prevention of age related illness becomes available on the NHS through regular and/or periodic assessment and testing procedures, presently only available in the private sector. The technology is available which involves a simple blood sample which can reveal potential problems long before they become symptomatic, enabling the elderly to remain in their own homes for longer with outsourced care provided if required, reducing the need for care homes with their ever increasing and inflationary funding demands and dubious practices.

Hi Gerald, thank you for your comment about our campaign on care homes. Our campaign currently focuses on care homes because this is the part of the sector that the CMA focused its market study. Over the past year alone we have heard from thousands of who have shared their personal experiences of arranging care and going into care homes – amongst the stories we found struggles with contracts, erroneous fee structures, snap evictions, poor quality care and also shortages in care home accommodation. We’re aware that there are problems in other parts of the care sector too where people are also suffering from similar and other problems, and overall we believe that an urgent review and overhaul of the care market is required in order to improve standards, better protect care receivers and families and meet the ever-growing demand for social care support. Funding is one aspect of this, but we also know from the evidence we’ve seen that standards, processes and consumer protections also need addressing.

We’ve also heard stories of good care, and good care homes, experiences but rightly our campaign is focused on parts of the market where people are suffering to force change – if you’d like to share your own experiences and practices with us then we would be keen to know more.

On the face of it, health screening would seem a very sensible way to reduce medical and related costs – nipping a problem in the bud if that is possible – particularly in older people. However I wonder how effective it would be – both in diagnostic and monetary terms?:
https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/older-people-nurses/blood-tests-and-age-related-changes-in-older-people/5067786.article
“The relatively high frequency of certain diseases often prompts screening programme initiatives to detect asymptomatic diseases in older people. However, few tests alone have sufficiently robust sensitivity and specificity to fully diagnose the conditions discussed above. Blood tests are far more cost effective when used alongside signs and symptoms.”

It would be interesting (to me) to know just what the medical profession think is useful – worthwhile tests to carry out that would lead to mitigating the effects of a developing ailment.

The technology is available with written follow up advice including contact with your GP where necessary.

Many a heart attack or stroke for example can be prevented by prior warning through one blood sample analysis which can include as many as 20 + other tests.

The continued advancement in medical technology is already ongoing and available to anyone who can afford it, but understandably people with an aversion to the sight of blood or needles are almost bound to question its efficacy – an example being my phlebotomist nursing niece (now retired) who flatly refuses to have a ‘flu jab because she has an aversion to needles!

The medical profession also have their own coping mechanisms Malcolm – but that is not particularly relevant to nursing home care issues perhaps – or is it?

Dear Lauren,
the report you refer to as far as I am aware came to the conclusion that most of the problems which Care Homes are presented with are caused by Local Authority and Area Health Authorities under funding State financed Care . and also that NHS funded Care with the introduction of continually Eligibility Criterriors has now become means tested. I really do not feel you that you have made these serious funding issues clear to you readers and that you seem hell bent on rubbishing Care Homes by blaming them for all the problems involved, you seem to ignore the real important funding issues and expect the Care Home Sector to sort all this out. I always thought WHICH ? was above this sort of one sided reporting, unless you compare all Providers like for like the way that the Care Quality Commision is beginning to do (I still think a Five Star Hotel style rating is more easily understood by the Public) When WHICH? deals with other services and products it always recommends the Best Buys , the cost of the service/product surely is a deciding factor in this decisions. I cannot understand why WHICH has not stuck to its traditional methods and gone off on what I can only refer to as a WITCH ? Hunt.