One of the big questions that we have to address as the future generation is what we’re going to change. What about the current system? Will we decide that it isn’t suitable for a modern world and needs an overhaul?
The care system is potentially one of those areas. As we live in an ageing population and will one day rely on the care homes that we have built for people, we have to make sure that they are up to spec. So the real question is simple: are we looking after our elderly in the right way?
Horror Stories From the Care Home
So you’ve probably heard care home horror stories before. They pop up in the news and in the papers sometimes. Tales of abuse, neglect, bullying. The list of crimes committed by the care industry against the most vulnerable and elderly members of our society does seem to be quite considerable at a glance.
And there are a number of different reasons why this is the case. Some blame the apathy of the industry, and say that these people aren’t invested in looking after our loved ones. That they are instead just working a job for the sake of working a job. Others believe that they don’t have the necessary training required to interact with older, vulnerable people in a professional and kind way when a situation develops. Are either of these ideas true? Is there any merit to an accusation like that? Nobody knows. For all of the investigations conducted into the care home world, there are a lot of things we still don’t know.
What We Need to Do
So it is potentially quite obvious that as the new generation, with the future of the world on our shoulders, the care home system is perhaps one we need to look at in more detail. Perhaps we need to overhaul it slightly.
But how would we do this? What would we have to do as young people to make a change? Well, perhaps it’s all about the training. Perhaps we have to train staff to be more professional and more courteous and more considerate. Alternatively, it’s the care home itself that needs changing. Perhaps the way we look after our elderly people needs to be different. It’s possible we need more structured facilities, or specialist facilities for different types of illness and conditions. It’s pretty obvious to anybody that someone who is confined to a bed every day with a terminal illness needs more specialist care than someone who’s still reasonably fit and walking around.
Alternatively, we have to insist on better screening for staff members. If you’re going to be putting people into care homes in Burnham-on-Sea, then perhaps you need to make sure that you have chosen those individuals who you know are going to be kind and compassionate. It’s difficult to say really, but something does need to happen, and as the future generation, we have to make sure we are the ones that crack the puzzle.
So, as perhaps a final musing, there’s definitely something wrong with the care home system at the moment. The way that we look after our elderly isn’t quite perfect just yet. In some cases, a radical overhaul is needed, and in other cases, it just has to be a slight tweaking of policies. Perhaps the Government needs to invest more money into the industry, and give these overworked and unsung heroes more resources to play with. There are many different ways to proceed. There are many different options we can try. But as the generation that’s going to be alive the longest, the responsibility is ours.
