Missing the Point
I read two reports in the press recently about the care of vulnerable, elderly people - which were shocking and depressing in equal measure.
In the first case, a man had died in his own bed of natural causes - but his wife had lain next to him for two or three days in her own urine - because the day carers who normally came to support the couple - had been cancelled.
The background was that the couple had been due to go into respite care for a few days - to give the family carers a much needed break - but they changed their minds at the last minute and decided to stay in their own home.
The normal day care support was not re-instated - despite being especially important at the time - since the couple's regular family carers were not going to be around for those few days.
What happened next doesn't really bear thinking about.
The second case involved a devoted couple who had been married for more than fifty years - the husband of 92 cared for his wife who had Alzheimer's disease - but she had to go into hospital for some treatment.
While in hospital and over the next few months her condition worsened markedly - incredibly the woman lost almost four stones in weight - and was literally wasting away in front of her husband's eyes.
The husband tried in vain to have her discharged back into his care - in the belief that he could do a much better job of looking after her at home - which he had been doing successfully for years.
But the authorities refused and she was discharged into a care home instead - where she eventually died.
The key point about both cases is that the local council was in overall charge of people's care - or in the second example a local NHS hospital - for part of the time at least.
Yet somehow the elderly people concerned - and their families - were failed by a care system that was supposed to be looking after their best interests.
Now if these tragedies had occurred in a private care setting - all hell would have broken loose by now - as happened after the Panorama programme - about systematic abuse and bullying in a (privately run) care home for vulnerable young adults.
So the attempts to politicise these issues into a 'good versus evil' debate - about the competing merits of the public, private or voluntary sectors - really misses the point.
No one has a monopoly on good standards - problems occur in every sector - and the only way to drive standards up across the board - is through by effective monitoring, inspection and regulation.
In the first case, a man had died in his own bed of natural causes - but his wife had lain next to him for two or three days in her own urine - because the day carers who normally came to support the couple - had been cancelled.
The background was that the couple had been due to go into respite care for a few days - to give the family carers a much needed break - but they changed their minds at the last minute and decided to stay in their own home.
The normal day care support was not re-instated - despite being especially important at the time - since the couple's regular family carers were not going to be around for those few days.
What happened next doesn't really bear thinking about.
The second case involved a devoted couple who had been married for more than fifty years - the husband of 92 cared for his wife who had Alzheimer's disease - but she had to go into hospital for some treatment.
While in hospital and over the next few months her condition worsened markedly - incredibly the woman lost almost four stones in weight - and was literally wasting away in front of her husband's eyes.
The husband tried in vain to have her discharged back into his care - in the belief that he could do a much better job of looking after her at home - which he had been doing successfully for years.
But the authorities refused and she was discharged into a care home instead - where she eventually died.
The key point about both cases is that the local council was in overall charge of people's care - or in the second example a local NHS hospital - for part of the time at least.
Yet somehow the elderly people concerned - and their families - were failed by a care system that was supposed to be looking after their best interests.
Now if these tragedies had occurred in a private care setting - all hell would have broken loose by now - as happened after the Panorama programme - about systematic abuse and bullying in a (privately run) care home for vulnerable young adults.
So the attempts to politicise these issues into a 'good versus evil' debate - about the competing merits of the public, private or voluntary sectors - really misses the point.
No one has a monopoly on good standards - problems occur in every sector - and the only way to drive standards up across the board - is through by effective monitoring, inspection and regulation.
