Reader's letter: The lie of care in the community
It is 46 years this year since I became a nurse.
When I started nursing it was in a large hospital for those with learning disabilities in 1971.
Even then we were told changes were in the system and ‘care in the community’ was the best way.
However the hospitals closed but the care in the community never materialised – in fact if you look back 40 years at the numbers of district nurses, midwives, etc, there were in the 80s you cannot fail to see the difference.
The patients that were thrown out of hospitals these days often live on street corners – the same has happened to the elderly.
At one time almost every corner had some form of home for the elderly and our large hospitals had geriatric wings to help if the elderly needed help at home there were district nurses.
The government is cutting back on care in the community whilst increasing the demand for it – the mentally ill elderly and those with learning disabilities are desperate for care yet the government is cutting spending and resources.
Back in the 80s we were building more hospitals and training more nurses, the NHS is the worst now I have known.
There are more people in this country than ever – the birth rate is at its highest for 50 years, you cannot blame all the problems of the NHS, on an ageing population. We have to urgently employ and train more nurses to replace ones that are leaving and spend more on hospitals – a lot could be raised by raising NHS contributions.
You don’t get anything for nothing, the French pay a bigger stamp but have a much better system.
Helena Camwell
Tividale
