Published: Thursday, 4th March, 2010 12:57pm

Is this the way we should treat our elderly?

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A local MLA has highlighted what he calls a "serious crisis" in at-home care for elderly people due to cuts.

The number of our elderly is growing and resources are tight, to say the least. Meanwhile, care for elderly people at home has been cut and home help hours have been slashed.

The problem is compounded by an early discharge policy at hospital. Elderly patients who have been ill but are medically well to leave hospital may be going out to the community with inadequate care in place to look after them in their own home.

The Chair of the South West Carers' Forum has described the management of the domiciliary care system as a "shambles" and warned that there will be neglect of older people in the future if the situation goes on. She suggests the community engaging in partnership with the Western Trust to find local solutions. Perhaps the Trust should listen to the suggestion.

Interestingly, a letter writer also uses the same word. The writer's parents are elderly and one has recently come out of hospital after being treated for a fractured hip. The writer reveals that care plans that are agreed which set out the amount of home help cover a client will get are not being fulfilled. "Without any due regard to the patient needs social workers are agreeing that where they cannot fulfil these needs they are marked on the Western Trust's paperwork as 'unmet needs'. So this means that there is no provision even though it is in a care plan and patients have endless phone calls and visits from professional teams of highly paid officials to advise them of this or in some cases they do not advise at all. In the words of the most senior management locally for this community provision - it was stated: 'it is a shambles'. Patient lives are being put at risk, and quite frankly these officials ignore families like ours when it comes to making good on their promises".

And all this is putting families and unpaid carers under incredible pressure. People are having to question whether they can go out to their work if they feel their elderly relative is not being properly cared for.

And care assistants themselves are horrified that the short time they have with elderly clients is being cut, meaning they have inadequate time to deal with their needs. They do a job that can be difficult but rewarding but need to be supported and helped in their role, not rushed into doing a speedy job that they feel is doing the elderly no favours. One care assistant who spoke to this newspaper described herself as a caring person who just could not walk out on an ill elderly client even if her hours dictated that the person should only receive 30 minutes of her time. The situation looks even more bleak for the unmarried elderly siblings with no children to look out for their care. If they do not have good neighbours, their advancing years may not be as comfortable and as secure as they should be.

While the spotlight is frequently on our acute hospital sector, the issue of social care is one that will touch every single family in the county. Surely our elderly should expect in their twilight years?