Increase in over 65s living alone means we need to better support our elderly relatives: Tom Page

This was very interesting and saddening to me because we know that when older people live alone, they deteriorate quickly both mentally and physically.

As they age many people are still cognitive and can do their own personal care, but they may need a bit of support to go shopping or may need companionship.

And it is the lack of that that sees them age quicker.

I set up my company, West Park Care after I’d gone through the rigmarole that many my age are faced with when I had to look for care for my ageing grandfather.

I was appalled at the standard of service and poor communication that seemed to be widespread across most at-home care providers and decided that I wanted to do it better.

It’s very typical to have sons or daughters come to us saying their mum or dad needs care but won’t have it, feeling too proud to accept help.

But what I’ve learned is that a bit of support early on in the process helps them stay in their own homes and is a preventative measure. It can be detrimental to wait until it hit a crisis point where your ageing relative needs three visits a day by which point everyone is stressed and exhausted.

So, we’ve been offering this type of light support more and more.

Our carers pop in for an hour or two a week or even daily, take the ageing person for a walk or take them shopping or put the bins out or just sit and have a cuppa and a chat.

We know this is really important to some clients so we don’t have minimum times that we’ll attend to clients like some care companies do. And we offer an off-peak rate between 1pm and 5pm for clients who need this type of support.

We introduced it a couple of months ago and it’s taken off considerably.

It can also be very non-invasive way of introducing care to ageing relatives who may be resistant to support.

It can mean the person has a point of contact if they fall or go into hospital and we can temporarily ramp up their care and then dial it back as they get back on their feet.

As we enter the summer period, those who care for elderly relatives may be thinking of going on holiday but fear abandoning their loved ones and a light bit of support like this can help everyone.

As our ageing population increasingly lives alone, I expect we will see them needing more and more care like this.

I believe a bit of at-home care earlier in their lives helps them live longer in their own homes, be happier and retain their independence.

And isn’t that what most of us would want at that age?

Tom Page is Managing Director at West Park Care