GrumbleSmiles

“Elderly Bad News”

Posted on December 20, 2015 by john graham

In the run up to Christmas, you hope for some news stories that spread happiness and goodwill. So I turned to the BBC News Website for some inspiration. Obviously you first have to pretend not to see all the stories about the never ending conflict in the Middle East and the human tragedy and terrorism that flows from it. Even after two thousand years, very near to the birthplace of Christ, there are few happy Christmas stories these days.

I narrowed my search closer to home and looked for stories about elderly people in the UK. There were 17 featured headlines in December:-

The first group of stories were all about the lack of resources and pressure on the NHS created by the “burden” of elderly people, either in need of hospital care or unable to return home after treatment.
- “NHS apology over dementia care”
- “Patients moved as ward is closed”
- “More beds needed to ease pressure on hospitals”
The second group of stories are all about elderly abuse and poor standards of care.
- “Care Home boss stole from elderly”
- “Gang guilty of pensioner phone scam”
- “Care Home boss sorry over death”
- “Elderly and disabled care at risk”
- “Pair fined after care home death”
All but one of the remaining stories were about the reduction of services affecting older people, such as the closing of local bank branches and the high levels of loneliness and isolation amongst elderly people.

None of these stories make you feel better about life as you age. Indeed the weight of pessimistic stories like this just adds to the burden of getting older. Yet, is this a true picture of reality for most older people?

The final headline is the one bit of good news:-

“Share of life in good health ‘rising'”

This is a report on a research study recently published in The Lancet. The research carried out at Newcastle University was a comparison of two previous studies of older people made in 1991 and then 20 years later in 2011. The researchers found that at the end of the study period, men experienced four more years of good health and for women it was three years, compared to the group in 1991. Significantly the later group rated their own health better. The researchers also found that cognitive impairment was reduced and there was also a lower level of serious disability among the latter group.

So beneath all these stories there is an underlying improvement in the health and lifestyle of older people. This won’t reduce the pressure on the NHS because of the growing number of older people, but it does mean that there is an active and relatively fit group of elderly people who could be used to support many of the disadvantaged people in society. If, as a society, we work together to better support the more vulnerable older people, we can surely speak up for them and protect them from abuse and exploitation.

Posted in GRUMBLES | 1 Comment

“Loneliness Kills”

Posted on December 13, 2015 by john graham

Less than six months ago I was writing about the many thousands of older people who live a lonely later life.

Now from the University of Chicago, a research study shows clear scientific evidence of the link between social isolation and ill-health. Social isolation is known to increase the risk of premature death by as much as a third. Comparable to the impact of smoking and obesity. Yet it attracts far less attention and even less action.

The Chicago researchers found a physical link between loneliness and increased “fight or flight” responses in the nervous system. This in turn has the potential to lower their immune system and make lonely people more susceptible to diseases.

More than half of the over 75’s the UK live alone and an estimated 5 million pensioners have only a TV on for company. Time for some Government action on the same scale as the No Smoking or healthy eating campaigns.

Or at least let old people smoke and eat themselves to a happy death.

(See the earlier posts by clicking on “Same Old, Same Old” in the TAG CLOUD).

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY | Tagged "Same Old Same Old" | 1 Comment

“Boom Turns to Bust”

Posted on December 6, 2015 by john graham

Just two weeks ago I was blogging about the precarious financial position of the residential care sector. (See “Poker Played With Peoples’ Lives” by clicking on “Residential Care” in the topics list).

It is a story which grew out of the rapid expansion of the residential care sector in the 1980’s and 1990’s. It was a private sector response to the rapidly ageing society and the then Government’s reluctance to fund new Local Authority provided “Old Peoples’ Homes”. A host of new companies sprang up to build new homes. A commercial “cash cow”, with new names – Take Care, Ashbourne Homes, Beaumont Health Care, Craigmore and several others.

Sadly, this new edifice was built on sand. Unskilled staff, low wages and high levels of capital borrowing. It has survived this long thanks to a series of mergers and takeovers, which exacerbated their level of indebtedness.

The industry is reaching a tipping point, the “cash cow” has become a “dog” in commercial terms – profit margins have fallen to a point where the poker playing financiers no longer want to be in this game.

Four Seasons Health Care – the subject of my blog two weeks ago – just reported a third quarter loss of £25.4 million on a turnover of £172 million. The introduction of the new living wage will add another £10 million to their cost in April. 90% of Four Seasons residents are state funded, so any closure of their homes will increase pressure on NHS beds and demands on Social Services.

Ironically, public and private sector residential care are both built on mountains of debt. Meanwhile, elderly people are just cards being played in a high stakes poker game that no-one can win.

Posted in Residential Care | 1 Comment

“Just another drink”

Posted on November 29, 2015 by john graham

Ever since I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve been following all type of announcements on research into aspects of ageing. A great many of them fall into the realms of health issues. As every year passes, you are tempted to clutch the straw of any piece of research advice that offers the potential to extend longevity. Research and advice on exercise is easy to find but harder to do. It all requires you to make more effort than usually comes naturally to you.

Similarly there’s a vast amount of information and suggestion on the right type of diet to adopt. You will see in my tag cloud many references to the healthy virtues of everything from breakfast cereals to every variety of vegetable and numerous unheard of berries and nuts. I do my best to eat as much of this as possible but I must admit to frequent relapses as I go back to an appetite for good food which has been acquired over a lifetime.

That’s why it’s easier to follow advice on what to drink because other than sourcing the ingredients, it’s not too difficult to achieve. The problem with drinks is that there is so much advice. So over the years I’ve started to drink more and more fruit juices – beetroot, apple, orange etc, all recommended by one researcher or another.

(See Fruitful Research 3 which you can find by clicking on the ARCHIVE for January 2011)

Then of course there’s my favourite green tea which frequently features in my blogs ever since I visited Japan.

(See “Green Tea is good for you” by clicking on the ARCHIVE for October 2015)

My favourite recommendation to follow is the copious quantities of red wine recommended to cure just about everything.

(See “Red Wine is f-f-fine” by clicking on the ARCHIVE for October 2015)

Finally I must not forget the end of the day cup of cocoa aimed at staving off Alzheimer’s. (See “Night Night, Sleep Tight” by clicking on the ARCHIVE for August 2014).

As if this wasn’t enough, researchers at Harvard Medical School, recently managed to get a leading article in The Times extoling the virtues of coffee. The research suggests it can lower the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and neurological diseases. “The cholorogenic acid and lignans have antioxidant effects and might be responsible for the inverse association of coffee and mortality.” The fact that it’s in The Times is research conducted by an eminent American University, is full of long incomprehensible medical words and has been carried out by a researcher called Ming Ding, absolutely and totally confirms that it must be right and probably preserves life forever 🙂

So it now appears that on top of all my other life prolonging drinks, I will have to consume three cups of coffee a day. At least I’ll have something more interesting to talk about to the Starbucks Baristas after I’ve told them whether I want sprinkles on my cappuccino.

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“Cloud Surfing – Trekking”

Posted on November 22, 2015 by john graham

Still cloud surfing on the lookout for interesting examples of older people making the most of later life. (See earlier blogs found in this thread by clicking on CLOUD SURFING in the TAG CLOUD).

The internet is difficult to navigate, especially when you don’t have a compass and the stars in the sky are obscured by the clouds. It also doesn’t help when you don’t know where you are going or what exactly you are looking for.

I always liken it to trying to find someone in a telephone directory, if it is not arranged in alphabetical order. You know they are in there but you just can’t find them :-(.

Using search terms like – older people, pensioners or seniors (if you’re American), just does not work for people who don’t think of themselves as defined by their age. So you end up trying to catch hold of a cloud !

There is one other variable in this quest and that is my lack of skill and patience with the computer. I inadvertently delete things and then can’t always find my way back to where I was. Alternatively I save things and can’t remember where I have saved them. Finally, I get side-tracked into other interesting peoples’ blogrolls, YouTube videos, photo galleries, Google earth…………….and so the search meanders all over the cloudscape !

But the key is to enjoy the journey, in the knowledge that you will eventually find a piece of hidden treasure, somewhere up there, lost in the clouds.

Today, I found Meg Noble Peterson. An American lady who I think lives in the North West of the USA. Her blog is full of fascinating stories about trekking around the world sometimes with her daughter. Great stories, great photos – Nepal, India, Africa and even the wilds of England :-). All this with a new hip and an intrepid explorer’s spirit.

It certainly puts my couch potato travels with computers and cloud surfing into perspective.

You can find Meg’s blog by clicking on megnoblepeterson.com. It’s a great blog which is well worth a visit, especially if like me you’re less adventurous in your older age. Reading Meg’s blog can take you travelling around the world. It’s a real rebuke to the stereo type of older people slowing down in later life.

Thanks Meg, you are an inspiration to us all.

Tagged Cloud Surfing | 2 Comments

“Poker played with peoples lives !”

Posted on November 15, 2015 by john graham

Four years ago, in 2011, my blog followed the demise of Southern Cross which was then the largest care home operator in the UK. (You can read the full story by clicking on “Southern Cross” in the TAG CLOUD).

It was optimistically conceived in an ever-growing population of frail older people who were funded by the State. Eventually this rapidly assembled and dangerously financially leveraged corporate empire collapsed in on itself.

I likened the whole process to a poker game, where money was the only driver and the residents were just cards to play in the high stakes game. When Southern Cross went bust, the spoils were divided up between the remaining players and the second largest care home operator — Four Seasons Health Care — inherited the largest chunk of homes to pay off Southern Cross debts.

Sadly, the market fundamentals had not changed and Four Seasons were just as highly indebted. I forecast that it was likely to happen all over again and sure enough it has. Four Seasons has £500m of debt and annual interest bills of £50m. Occupancy levels are falling and Social Services’ fees are being squeezed, so the outlook doesn’t look good. The new minimum wage may just be the tipping point for yet another collapse.

The poker game is still being played out to see if Four Seasons becomes the next Southern Cross. That’s 22,500 old people who have an uncertain future in 470 care homes.

It is high time Government accepted that social care of the elderly is too important to be left to a card game of chance. We need a 21st century positive outlook to later life which offers all older people a secure and caring future. This can only come about if politicians are honest with older people about the limited state funding that is available to pay for care.

In turn that means that most older people will have to cash in the equity in their own homes if they need to pay for care. The Government’s key future role should be to encourage greater provision of retirement housing and facilitate less expensive and more trustworthy models of equity release.

Posted in Residential Care | 1 Comment

“Wistful Drinking”

Posted on November 9, 2015 by john graham

It is really difficult keeping up with all the research on the links between health and longevity. Only a couple of weeks ago I was delighted to discover that drinking copious amounts of red wine can have beneficial effects on later life (see “Red Wine is f-f-fine by clicking on the previous blog).

I just knew it was too good to be true!

Less than a week later some miserable spoil sport doctors, who are probably all teetotalers, capture headlines in the Daily Mail – 26th October 2015 —- “A month off drinking slashes risk of disease“. Doctors at the Royal Free Hospital claim stopping drinking alcohol for a month can heal the liver and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

This is a most inconvenient truth, when I have just started digging a new wine cellar under the house!…….and when Christmas is only just around the corner. It’s no time to stop drinking…….and Aldi have a two for one offer on an excellent Shiraz at the moment.

I’ll bet the Royal Free Hospital doesn’t even do Vineyards on prescription!

Posted in SMILES | 1 Comment

“Duplicitous Politicians”

Posted on November 1, 2015 by john graham

The Conservative Government has not long been elected and now at the first party conference after the election, they are contemplating new policies that they were not prepared to discuss with the very people who voted for them.

At a fringe meeting, the Tax Payers Alliance was putting forward the idea that there should be early cuts to welfare benefits for older people. They cynically suggested that it would be opportune to remove the winter fuel allowance, free bus passes, the Christmas bonus and other pensioner benefits, because “older people would be dead before the next election”.

The case for cuts was being championed by former Government Minister Liam Fox. He said “we have to make the moral case for reducing public spending further ………… we have to get really honest with people”.

What a pity this outbreak of morality and honesty wasn’t there before the election. No wonder politicians are distrusted.

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY | 2 Comments

“Red wine is f-f-fine”

Posted on October 25, 2015 by john graham

I have been writing about dementia ever since I started this blog. With increasing longevity in the Western World, dementia is more and more an issue which is overwhelming health services.

Medical researchers in universities all around the world are keeping themselves funded and busy studying possible cures. I have commented on many of them in earlier posts (you can find by clicking on “Dementia” in the TOPICS LIST). Fruit and nut growers everywhere must eagerly await the results of the research. My breakfast cereal is brimming over with every kind of never-heard-of-heard-nuts , berries and dried fruits. All recommended by one group of University researchers or another. Still it it may be costing me a fortune, but the good new is ….. No dementia yet.😀

Now, an even more welcome dementia research revelation from Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington DC. It has been known for some time that Resveratrol, which is found in red wine, can have positive effects on “day-to-day” living and can help people with tasks such as cooking. That’s brilliant, because up until now, I have only been able to cook toasted cheese sandwiches 😀

One slight caveat with the study is that the tests used pure synthetic Resveratrol, which I have not seen on the pharmacy shelves. To get the same effect with red wine you have to drink 10,000 bottles a day!

I am looking forward to my cooking skills improving and all that wine drinking should be great fun, but I will have to see if I can get a vinyard on prescription, otherwise it could be a bit expensive.

3 Comments

“Green tea is good for you”

Posted on October 11, 2015 by john graham

It was three years ago when I first wrote a blog about the virtues of green tea. (You can read it by clicking on the ARCHIVE – 29 APRIL 2012). A research study in Tokyo suggested that green tea drinkers were more active and healthier.

Now a more recent small research study in Poland, published in the Scientific Journal, extolled the health benefits of drinking green tea. Here is a quote from the report which explains it all:

“Green tea is known to exert anti-obesity activity like reduction of adipocyte differentiation and proliferation, lipogenics, fat mass, body weight and fat absorption“.

So now you know!

I have always been worried about my adipocyte differentiation and proliferation but if went to my GP I’m sure he would think I had gone nuts.

On top of all this, I recently came across a blog all about the virtues of tea on the iSeniorsolutions website. They particularly paid attention to benefits of drinking green tea and how it helps regulate glucose levels for diabetics. It also improves cholesterol levels. and even better it contains an anti-oxidant called “Catechin” which helps destroy bacteria and therefore reduces tooth decay. I don’t know why we are not drinking gallons of the stuff – it would save the NHS a fortune.

I will be trying lots of different teas in future and no doubt be joining the queue in the cartoon below 🙂

My theory is simpler. It is all down to the extra exercise you get walking back and forth to the loo :-).

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