Am I Being Unreasonable?

We spend our lives waiting to retire. That’s the time when we can do what WE want. No worrying about kids, work and what we wear.

Surely we should celebrate the day the first grey appears? It’s a sign that FINALLY we’ll have time to learn ballroom dancing, sleep in until noon and disappear abroad on a coach full of strangers (so nobody can tell our children about our embarrassing behaviour.) So why is it when we get this chance to do just what the hell we want its robbed from us? Dementia. Arthritis. Cancer. Osteoporosis. Depression. Don’t be fooled by their posh names. There’s nothing these wont take. What’s worse is they work in groups, it just takes one of them to spot a target and suddenly they’re all on it like a stain to my carpet. And guess what? Nobody cares. They’ll get everyone, at some point, but I’m yet to see any crime reports. Nobody cares.

Elderly people are pretty easy to forget. We package them off to care homes/hospitals so they can be looked after. Its like hiding that god awful shirt your friend bought you at the back of your wardrobe. We might have to dig it up on the odd occasion, maybe their birthday or Christmas, just so they know we still kept it. Even the people looking after them can forget too. Give someone enough sedatives and they’re an absolute angel. It doesn’t matter if this confuses or upsets them, they’re there to look after them, to keep them alive – why should they make it more difficult by dealing with a person? After all, we’ve all managed to kill our goldfish – what chance do we have with a stuttering old man?

What are the NHS doing? Not enough. People cost money. The NHS is broke. Living longer is an inconvenience to the system – a very sad but true fact. I’m not criticising the NHS. I understand the problem. I know many elderly care doctors who do truly inspiring work every day, but they can only help so many. It just makes me so angry that we’re prepared to sit back and watch our loved ones stripped of their dignity and left to rot away in a home. If our children were treated with such negligence there would be riots.  Admittedly great progress has been made recently in dementia care but its still a far cry from what is needed. My grandad’s own care demonstrates that.

4 care homes. 2 NHS enquiries. 3 missing teeth. 1 missing wedding ring. Assorted missing clothes and other personal items. 3 sedatives. Haloperidol.  Tamazepam. Poorly tailored drug regime. Section 3 of mental health act. 5 friction burns. One assault. 5 stone lost. Countless tears, distress and angst.

Even so he’s probably getting better care than most, his grandaughter keeps sticking her nose in and trying to do right by him. Not everyone can understand what’s happening and I have to call in favours and name drop to get anything to change. What about the people there with no family? Who cares about them?

People often ask me what field of medicine I want to go into . The interview answer is that I’m still exploring my options but I’ve enjoyed all my placements etc. The actual answer is elderly care. Its not great money, there aren’t enough staff and frankly sometimes its just smelly but these people are neglected by society and the system. I always wanted to go into health care to make a difference. I’d like to think that I could do that on the geriatric wards. Someone should care, even if the only someone is me.

Love and luck to all (especially the elderly) xxx