Elderly care – When I Get Older

The debate continues to rage about how we pay for residential care for the elderly. It sometimes goes unsaid that there is a concurrent debate to be had about the quality of care that is provided to the elderly population. Tony Robinson's recent remarks during the filming of the BBC documentary, When I Get Older, movingly encapsulates the debate between the demands of dignity and individuality, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the commoditisation and institutionalisation of care in order for it to be delivered, economically and in bulk. We don’t have answers to the issues raised but, as we’ve observed before in this blog, the way we care for older generations speaks directly to our values as a society. 

At Kingsley Napley, we encounter increasing numbers of claims for clinical negligence on behalf of elderly patients – relating to care received in hospitals rather than residential care, in the main – and that is both frustrating and very sad.