Supporting councils to provide a better quality of life for older people through local services – ‘Ageing Well’

The key strategy is to enable them to lead as normal a life as possible in their own homes or in a homely environment within the local community. There are about 6 million carers in GB – meaning not professionals, but family, friend and neighbours. Funding and commissioning all social care is responsibility of local authorities. Services provided for older people include various help at home and day centres. The former include ‘meals on wheels’ delivered by the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service and the Red Cross. Day and night attentants are available through social services departments. ‘Good neighbour’ schemes operate in many areas. They involve volunteers visiting an older person living nearby and finding out if they can perform some service, e.g. collecting a pension or writing a letter. Voluntary organizations may also offer practical help with decorating and gardening and minor repairs about the house. Day centres and clubs provide an important meeting place for older people. They provide a hot meal, some services (e.g. laundry), some educational courses art and craft classes and even arrange holidays.

The next aspect of social care concerns suitable accomodation: it may vary from adapting the home, sheltered housing to residential and nursing homes.Adapting the home includes handrails and chairlifts on stairs, grips by the bath and lavatory, and the addition of a downstairs lavatory and shower. Help the Aged can supply frail people living at home with a community alarm unit. This is a special telephone, connected to a 24-hour local control centre, which is activated by a remote control alarm button worn as a neck pendant or a lapel clip. Sheltered housing   usually consists of groups of flats or small houses where older people can live independently but still have the support of a resident warden. Residential homes are for those elderly people who are too infirm to live independently. The residents are expected to contribute towards the cost of care. Same about nursing homes, often run by the private sector.

There is a comprehensive system of benefits and discounts for elder people. British Rail sells a Senior Citizen’s Railcard , which allows them to travel on most train services at a discounted price, and runs bargain excursions for older people. GPs are required to offer an annual health check to all patients aged 75 and over.

Social security benefits are either contributary or non-contributary. Contributary benefits are paid by National Ensurance. This is made up of contributions of employed people and their employers, the self-employed and the Government. Non-contributary benefits are financed by taxation. There is also Social Fund to provide help to people with low incomes who have special or emergency needs, e.g. cold weather payments are sent when the mean day temperature is equal or below 0 Celsius for 7 days.

Default retirement age (formerly 65) has been phased out - most people can now work for as long as they want to. Retirement age is not the same as State Pension age which can be between 61 and 68, depending when someone was born and if they’re male or female. Anyone can carry on working past State Pension age.

A state retirement pension is paid to women aged 60 and over and to men aged 65 and over. It consists of a weekly pension, which is based on the amount of basic contributions paid during a person’s working life. A non-contributary pension is paid to people over the age of 80. Pensioneers may have unlimited earnings without affecting their pension. The full new State Pension will be no less than £151.25 per week.

Question: Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZzskDKisCs What is the major problem old people in UK speak about? Is it the same in Russia? Different? Enumerate adapting home devices you saw. Are they provided in this country?