DEMENTIA AND DIRTY SURGERIES

The health service hit the headlines again this week, unsurprisingly. We are quick to blame, but no amount of dirt slinging, pardon the pun, can get away from the reality. It’s no wonder that as we are all getting older, and living longer, that the NHS is buckling under the strain.

Whilst there can be no excuse for dirty surgeries and maggots given free rein to roam, hard pressed staff, with targets to meet and endless paperwork to complete, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I expect to be severely rebuked for the flippant comment, but at least if we are all going dotty, perhaps we won’t notice how clean the surgery is when we mistake the doctor for someone else.

I’ve never believed in keeping people alive at all costs, and with life expectancy increasing in leaps and bounds, as I get older, I am increasingly fearful of what the future will hold should I no longer be able to fend for myself, or know which day of the week it is.

Many people of my age have got to the stage in life where, having seen the children off their hands, at last, they find they now have elderly parents requiring an increasing amount of care and attention. Unlike days gone by, when they might expect to live into their 70s, we find they are still alive, but not perhaps kicking as well as they used to, well into their 90s, often living at miles away. This poses a quandary for those of retirement age, having hoped that things might ease up a little. Those longed for holidays, a cruise perhaps, still some way off in the distance. Do they hope their siblings, if they have any, will take up the slack, deposit their loved ones in a care home, praying fervently that they will be treated well, a weekly visit sufficing, and the inheritance diminishing daily, move mum into the spare bedroom, or obtain planning permission for a granny annex? There is no quick fix solution. Many decide to care for their loved ones at home, right to the very end, and as admirable as this may be, I have seen the toll this takes, and I am not sure I could do the same in their situation. Some become practically house bound, and in the case of advanced dementia, where sufferers often become violent, there is a reluctance for outside care assistance. Others choose care homes, and in many cases see the health and well being of their loved one go rapidly downhill. I know, that having neither children or the privilege of parents still alive, I hope that I’ll be able to live each day in reasonably good health and good humour, with a roof over my head, without too many aches and pains, and a swift end whilst I can still remember my own name and appreciate the sparkle of a glass of champagne. In the meantime, we all can benefit from by having compassion and understanding for those suffering the consequences of increasing old age.