Letter: Time to get behind 'forgotten generation'

Elderly people are suffering greater discrimination than ever before and millions of them are saying "Our lives are getting worse!"

Their belief that they are the "forgotten generation" will strike a chord with many of your readers.

More than half of Britain's elderly think they are treated like little children once they reach old age. Some 64 per cent of the elderly say NHS staff, do not always treat them with dignity or respect, while 68 per cent believe politicians see them as a low priority. This view has been strengthened by the treatment they are receiving during the current economic climate. Loneliness, depression, poverty and neglect blight the lives of millions of older folk and evidence shows that for many the situation is getting worse, not better.

Attitudes to older people are stuck in the past; care and support are on the brink of collapse. Successive governments have largely ignored the experiences of pensioners suffering from isolation and exclusion.

This year began as one of uncertainty for older people, but it could be a year of opportunity. Plans for a new government strategy on ageing, a green paper on social care reform and a looming general election could help deliver transformational change in the lives of the elderly. This year has the potential to break the pattern of older people living their lives in misery.

Are not older folk in our region entitled to ask a simple question: "Are the authorities absolutely certain there no other ways of saving more money and causing less distress to 'the forgotten generation'?"

Perhaps one place they could start would be with the £1 in every £5 paid in council tax that goes towards local authority pensions. I am sure no-one disagrees with the system of local authority pensions, it is the use of council tax monies to help fund those pensions that is disturbing to many council tax payers. If this country is rich enough to shower the bankers – who are responsible for the predicament that we find ourselves in – with largess, surely our erstwhile Chancellor, if he has the slightest concern for the plight of pensioners, could immediately agree to a reduction in the level of taxation applicable to interest on their savings.

Perhaps we need to raise our voices beyond the whisper that we are using at the moment so that we can truly say that we have respect for the elderly, not only here, but throughout the United Kingdom.

Roy C Girdler, Cherrywood Green, Bilston.