13 May 2011
Do we really need that many beds ?
In a recent article in the Daily Mail it was revealed that people aged 85 and over are the fastest-growing age group in the UK. It is no surprise that this will have a huge affect on society and the care services available. It is said that the number of care homes will have to almost double to cope with rising numbers of people aged 85 or more, with around 630,000 extra beds being required to care for the elderly because one in five cannot manage alone, a study shows. The enormoties of scale here are huge.
With this in mind Live-in Care surely has to become part of the modern solution to the care home crisis. Unfortunately many are ill-informed about the care options open to them and have little knowledge of Live-in Care.
The study also investigated the health of people aged 85 and over. Eight out of ten live independently without daily support. But the biggest health problem for the rest is dementia, said researchers from Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health.
The study predicts an 82 per cent increase in the number of care home places – an extra 630,000 – is needed by 2030 in order to cope. At present, there are around 18,000 care homes.
The survey found 41 per cent of those questioned never have help, while 39 per cent have support – although not daily.
This means one in five people aged over 85 needs regular help or critical 24-hour care. The findings, published in the BMC Geriatrics journal, suggest the massive increase in numbers will put more and more pressure on care services.
It is now that we need to act and changed the current care system in order to prevent a major problem occurring in a few years.
Care at home needs to be given to individuals as a realistic care solution, not only will this help with the care crisis but also Live-in care has significant benefits for the individual, with the one-to-one attention, independence and freedom of choice from everything from nutrition through to the TV channel.
Our health service and care debate is often pondered in terms of ” beds”, lets face it – we all know which bed you really want to lie in.
