Fresh thinking needed on elderly care

Earlier this month, the Care Quality Commission released a report about the treatment of elderly people in UK hospitals. Among other things it found old people denied food and water, left for hours in soiled clothing and ignored when in acute pain. Of the hospitals the CQC visited, one in five was breaking the law through failing to provide even the most basic care to elderly patients.

This isn’t the first report to highlight serious neglect of elderly patients within hospitals, so why is it still happening? Different commentators have proposed differing reasons. Some highlight the more technical role of modern nursing and the lack of focus on traditional bedside manners. Others have argued persuasively that the demands on nurses are so extreme they often have only the barest slither of time to devote to their patients. I think both these points are valid, but I don’t think they address the main issue.

Hospitals are places people go to receive treatment, get well and leave. Some treatments are more complex than others and may require lengthy periods within the hospital, but even with these the end goal is for the patient to return home with their health intact. With elderly patients this aim becomes more complicated.

As we get older, our recovery from illness takes longer. We may suffer from a combination of long-term ailments exacerbated by short-term infections. We may suffer from things such as dementia which requires a very particular type of treatment. Our mobility may have decreased making it difficult for us to perform tasks other patients do not find a problem. In short, our ability to get well again may be in doubt.

Care for the elderly is not the same as care for other patients. So if hospitals are unable to provide this, is it right that elderly people are sent there? We have grown so used to the idea of hospitals being a one stop shop for the health of all the UK populous that we may be ignoring the fact they are not appropriate places for some people to be treated. What’s more, we may be treating people in ways that are completely uneconomical – both financially and morally.

Having a large elderly population is not a bad thing – quite the opposite – but it does mean we need to think carefully about how we best serve their needs. We did not design our hospitals to cater to an elderly population of the size we currently have, so why are we trying to do exactly that?

Labour has a duty to think far more expansively and creatively about how elderly care is provided. It needs to think about how we treat more people in their homes; how we support families who provide care to relatives; how we make treatment more accessible without hospitalisation and how preventative medicine best aids an elderly populous. Hospital care is very expensive and when that care is bad it gives ammunition to enemies of the NHS. Treating elderly people outside of the hospital wherever possible could revolutionise care in the UK and save the NHS billions.

There is no excuse for the treatment some elderly people are receiving in our hospitals. Providing short-term fixes is important, but the long term solution is critical. The elderly vote is already one of the most powerful in the UK and its power is only going to grow in the next four years. Making elderly care a priority will not only be to the advantage of society at large, but may also be critical for electoral victory.