Readers,
I have just stumbled across an article in the Guardian newspaper. It discussed the seven weeks a patient named Joan Dorling spent on a hospital ward. This fiesty lady endured a broken neck and a lack of care that as a health care professional emabarrasses and appalls me. I can only imagine what the family must be going through.
One of the tragedies surrounding the death of Joan Dorling is the lack of appropriate residential care for people with dementia. If there were more places available in local residential care homes for people like Dorling living with dementia, it is probable that her premature death could have been avoided. So the NHS does not appear to be the only villain in this tragic tale. How culpable is the social care system?
As a social class we seem to forget that we are living in an ever ageing community, better health care breakthroughs equals longer life expetancys. However a life is not worth living if the basic ammenities and provisions are not laid out for the geriatric community.
I have seen what goes on in the hospitals, I have seen the way some elderly patients are just left to stew in their chairs. Unless this current governent put forward a dosier outlineing some major changes for social services this situation will continue to spiral.
Mike
