Following on from my last post.

Care Homes seem to use apathy as a control mechanism. It also shortens people’s lives as their brain stagnates.

These last few days since my brain fuse, I have been a bit apathetic and I can see how it would be so easy to let it gently take over my life. I am determined not to let this happen so must carry on campaigning/moaning about dementia care and support and the lack thereof.

I have had to cancel some meetings in Edinburgh but will try to use Zoom for at least one of them. I am determined to get to Stirling in September as the “UK” PCA group is up at the University. The group is very London centric so I have to grab the chance to see them when I can. Ethel, my wife, might have to take me but I must get.

Meanwhile, I will start again looking at local dementia strategies.

There has been quite a lot written in the media recently about this. As far as as I can see, it is a blinding glimpse of the obvious. When I went into Care Homes, all you saw was the elderly sat in front of the tv. This would be done so as to make life easier for the staff, meaning less staff required, thus lessening costs. There is no financial incentive to Care Homes to motivate their residents as that would necessitate more staff.

What do visitors to these Homes think? I remember sitting in a restaurant and heard the next table saying how wonderful it was that their mothers Care Home was putting on a sherry night for relatives to celebrate Burns Night, I think. Wow! What a waste of money that should have been spent on the residents, but good PR.

Yes, there are good news stories but they should not be news, that they are shows how rare they must be. CSCI, or whatever it’s equivalent is, should have motivational sessions as part of their checks, and not just when they inspect.

I am afraid that this is just a symptom of society’s apathy to the cost of care. As I keep saying it is beyond my ken why there is such apathy: everyone has a loved one or will themselves require care.