Dementia - Paying the Cost

Everything I've heard / read seems to miss the point. We supposedly have a NHS , free at the point of need, to people who are ill or injured. Dementia is an illness. Why are we discriminating against sufferers? If you are in a coma you don't have to pay for personal care - it is part of a very expensive package of care. Either we are even handed & have the traditional NHS principles funded from taxation, or we have a proper discussion about everything the NHS provides & what should continue to be funded & how. Personally I think the latter is the only way forward, but politicians are too cowardly to do it. They want to be re-elected.

My Father & Mother in law had Vascular Dementia. They were both difficult to care for. They both had very fixed personalities which exacerbated the difficulties.  Both ended up in hospital & died for reasons other than the dementia. So you could say we were lucky I suppose. It didn't feel like that. 

I also had friends who had Alzheimers - a totally different ball game. Really impossible for close relatives & friends, who were elderly themselves to cope with. Yet that is what is expected. The burden on carers is unacceptable. You simply don't understand until you have done it.

If we have a proper discussion about how & what we fund through taxation for the NHS, the issues will be difficult & complicated. Obesity, Infertility, Bed Blocking because of lack of Social Care, Treating Lifestyle Choice illness such as drug addiction & alcoholism, or Lifestyle Choice Sports Injury. I could go on. These will all be contentious & difficult to face up to. People & politicians simply don't want to do it. It's too hard.

But we have to, because making one group of elderly people, who are ill, pay for their care is unjust. It is simplistic & unacceptable. We should all be better than that. If people have a medical condition, whatever it is, & need care, at least the medical care should be free. 

It might happen to you or your loved ones!