It is extremely sad to hear of the closure of Underhill House allegedly because the home needs to be upgraded to modern standards.
Whilst it is good to have modern facilities in residential or any other home, by far the more important issue is the quality of the care, the sense of community and companionship between residents and the variety and effectiveness of activities in engaging residents on a day to day basis, thus enriching their lives.
The sad fact shown by this, hopefully unusual case is the loss of control that too often occurs when a person gives up their own home and moves into residential care. None of us would respond well to being compulsorily “moved on” and this is why in the past tenancy laws used to give life long tenure. Quite apart from the awful disruption to the residents there is the implication for family and friends of having to travel perhaps further etc.
This example should be a wake up call for many considering their own or their loved ones future as they get older. There are alternatives to residential care which I personally believe provide a much better solution in many cases, maintaining a much greater degree of independence and self esteem. One of those alternatives is the provision of home care with a well trained Care Giver providing care in peoples own homes from a few hours per day or as a full time “live in” Care Giver. Many people appear to rule this out on cost, but might be surprised at how well it can compare with residential care.
Cost however is only one issue, the great advantage to home care is that the individual stays in their own home and community and of course are much more in control of their own destiny. Provided there is sufficient Care Givers time available then often the elderly can (re)engage much better with local community activities.
I find it is often poorly understood that first class home care can help not only with community reengagement but provide the stimulus to have quality time with friends and family who often struggle to provide some of the basic physiological needs; this is where the Care Giver can make such a difference. I call these basic needs (food, warmth, personal care, medication etc) the pre-requisites of life that every individual needs and which family sometimes struggle with. This difficulty often leads to a move to a residential setting when all that is really needed is a bit more regular help. Sadly sometimes it also leads to feelings of guilt on the part of family and friends.
To stay in our own homes in our latter years must be a real key to maintaining our dignity and self esteem.
So, I think we should think twice before settling on residential care, there are undeniably many excellent residential care homes in this country, but this is not necessarily the only and best option for our loved ones… and in many cases isn’t, in my opinion, unless we are talking about those who are unsafe by themselves.
Rob Gready
