Express & Star comment: The elderly need our support
Britain’s elderly need our support. They are at the most vulnerable stage of life, a time, a time when they look to others to help them in the way that they have helped others through their lives. We must not fail them.
One of the most alarming aspects of the daily statistics on Covid-19 has been the absence of figures indicating infection and mortality in care homes. Care homes are areas of high intensity transmission. It is difficult to self-isolate or shield others when infection strikes.
The death rate in care homes will be disproportionately high when set against that of the wider population. The Office of National Statistics collates such data and the figures released yesterday give an important insight into the impact on those elderly and vulnerable people in care homes.
While huge efforts have rightly been made to bolster the NHS, more should also be done to support care homes. Presently, care homes are acting as care homes, hospices and in some cases mortuaries.
Resources are not making it to the care staff on the front line.
While there is justifiable criticism of the Government’s record on supplying PPE, it has been effective in preventing a rush of cases in our NHS. By reconfiguring hospitals and increasing ICU capacity, it has just about stayed ahead of the curve.
It is easy to be critical, particularly with the benefit of hindsight about a lack of preparedness. However, the care home sector does not appear to have had the same support. Indeed, it has been described by some as the the “forgotten front line”.
Basic PPE is still not available to many workers and the lowest paid are putting themselves in harm’s way as they seek to protect society’s most vulnerable.
The Government must find a way of providing better support for our care homes. This is work that should be done immediately – not next week, or next month.
Our elderly need us more now than ever. We have a moral duty to support them and greater investment must be made immediately in the care sector.
