Inclusive Elderly Care in the UK

Introduction:

Through conducting this study researcher aims to highlight whether the care and treatment process offered to elderly people in UK are inclusive in terms of meeting their individual health needs. Lack of inclusive care is a major health concern in UK for elderly people, that enhances their vulnerability towards huge morbidity and mortality. Through selecting the research topic, the researcher is going to highlight the usefulness and importance of inclusive care for improving quality of entire treatment. Here the researcher has selected relevant research topic to represent the usefulness of inclusive care for elderly people in UK to raise the concern about the vulnerability of elderly people towards chronic disease in society.

Out of 12 million elderly people in the UK, 5000000 people are of above the age 95 who are highly vulnerable to high risk of chronic disease. Demographic analysis in UK has shown that there are sheer percentage of older people who are unable to perform their regular activities that leads them to sudden falls and accidents which are the major reason of elderly mortality and morbidity in UK. Inclusive treatment and care process are one of the most useful process in modern medical field to meet critical health needs of elderly patients.

Literature review:

While it comes to discuss the inclusiveness of elderly care in the UK, it is important to understand the recent health and social care needs of elderly in the UK and how they are treated in this country. According to Bankes et al. (2019), elderly care is not only associated with determining the care needs and meeting them accordingly but also enhance the self-confidence and self-esteem inside the older patient that will enhance their psychological and emotional strength. Although UK government is highly concern in arranging inclusive care for elderly people, due to ever-increasing population in this country out of which maximum people mare aged, the country struggles to provide inclusive care to all the elderly people with their health and social needs. On the contrary Cameron et al. (2018) argued that, increasing elderly population in the UK is not the sole cause of failure in providing proper inclusive care to elderly people, but also there are other factors such as poor fund allocated to the elderly care units of NHS, lack of skilled staffs in critical care unit for elderly patients, poor infrastructure in the social and healthcare framework and government’s inability to implement the health and care social care regulation in nation as well as state in systematic manner. All these factors are responsible for the fact that most of the elderly people in the UK are devoid of getting quality care to meet their health and social care needs. In this context Doherty (2018) mentioned that, while discussing the inclusive care for elderly patient it needs to mentioned that, inclusive care is not only based on how much government of a country is concerned and active in developing proper care framework for the elderly people, rather it is also important that how the society is supportive towards meeting the care needs of these elder patients. In recent years, the UK government has taken necessary steps in not only improving the inclusive care system for the elderly people but also promote the concern and supportive nature in the society people that is important for meeting the social and emotional care needs of the elderly people (Liljas et al. 2017). For example, Age UK, the biggest charity organisation in the UK which determines the physical, emotional and psychological needs of elderly people and work on these needs to meet them accordingly, The charity provides financial assurance to older people in society either by providing money to their bank account or providing them some light jobs in the society to earn money. According to Geiger et al. (2016), while critically analysing the overall inclusive care for elderly people in the UK, it needs to be mentioned that, most of the NHS hospitals, old age homes and care centres or the older people in this country although focuses on determining the health and social, care needs of these older people, they struggle to provide proper care and support that are relevant to the health condition of these aged people. The reason behind this struggle is lack of proper financial support from the state and nation which makes the infrastructure for conducting inclusive care for older people deteriorating day-by-day. In this context, Doherty (2018) mentioned that, in terms of conducting high-quality inclusive care for the older people it is important to arrange the integrated as well as person-centred care system in which aged people can be allowed to be involved into their care process to meet their needs. A recent survey conducted by World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that UK government has taken initiatives to make the betterment of the overall care system for aged people who struggle with their increasing social and health needs. The NHS staffs and health professionals are provided with professional training ability how to deal with the care needs of the elderly people. As argued by Geiger et al. (2016), although Brexit poses adverse impact on having sufficient skilled social and health ae staffs in the UK which has serious impact on the care delivery process to meet needs of elderly people, now the overall health ad social care process for providing inclusive care to older people is better from the previous time. UK government has made it obligatory for the health professional, healthcare staffs and social workers to make a sustainable as well as trained workforce in terms of dealing with the critical needs of the elderly people in this country (Looman et al. 2016). In addition to this, WHO supports the UK government to develop evidence-based guidance and training to the health and social care staffs in the UK that will assist the, to conduct most effective inclusive care process for covering all the health and social needs of the older people in the UK. On the contrary Goodman et al; (2016), in term of conducting successful inclusive care system in the country, training and knowledge development of people associated with these care delivery process are not sufficient rather the government needs to take the necessary step in developing the overall financial, social and cultural support for the older people that are most important for meeting the emotional and psychological needs (Ma et al. 2019). In this context, UK government has focused on increasing the health literacy in society by developing training and education program in each state, in which social care professional will discuss how to protect the rights of older people in the society and how to mitigate ever-increasing health issues with which the older people deal. In this context Willis et al. (2017) mentioned in their article that, only training and development of healthcare professionals is not sufficient for arranging inclusive care for the older people, rathe the heath care authority needs to focus on creating positive and supportive health care environment inside the care homes which will assist LGBT older people to get the inclusive care that is important for meeting complex as well as critical needs. Health care environment is important for providing better inclusive care for older people. Here, the health and social workers in the UK are obliged to respecting the values bad dignity of the older people by listening to their decision and valuing to their preference (Michael et al. 2017). Additionally, NHS staffs and social care professional in the UK are now more concern to take into account the preference and needs of older people in the community who are devoid of financial, legal and healthcare facilities. As stated by Hafford‐Letchfield et al. (2018), in term of conducting the inclusive care for older people, it is important to conduct the strong communication process with the older people and their family members which will assist health and social care staffs to collect proper information regarding health needs and current mental condition of the older people.

Data Analysis:

Demographic of ageing population in the UK:

The report from Office of National Statistics (ONS) has shown that, there is ever-increasing number of ageing population in the UK, due to immigration of large number of older people from under-developed and developing country. Based on ONS report of 2018, there are approximately 12 million aged people in the UK whose age is over 65, out of which 5 million people are of 75+ and 1.6 million people are 85 and above. In addition to this out of the 12 million older people in the UK, 5000,000 people are of 90+ and 14,500 people are centenarians. Office of National Statistics has reported that, the rate at which the number of older populations is increasing in the UK will lead to the situation while there will be 21000 centenarians in the UK during 2030. In addition to this, the report also stated that in the UK the number of older populations has been increased by nearly 85% during the last 16 years. While discussing demographics of ageing population it needs to discuss how the health and social care support are there in the UK for meeting the physical, psychological and emotional needs of these ever-increasing ageing population. It is seen by the WHO report and ONS study that in the UK, the percentage of older people with complex care needs is going to increase during the next 20 years. As stated by Bankes et al. (2019), as the care needs of older people in the UK become more complex day-by-day, the health and social care system needs to be highly organised as well as strong that can provide the inclusive care to these older people to meet the care needs. Although in the UK care providers provide wide ranges of support to the older people such as providing person-centred care, mental and physical support, better communication and psychotherapies as well as counselling, the numbers of unmet needs of the holders’ adults increases in the NHS hospitals (Niesten et al. 2016). The reason behind the unmet needs is lack of skilled staffs in the hospitals, poor infrastructure and sheer percentage of older people in the entire population of the UK. It has been reported through WHO reports that over 30% older people in England and Wales are devoid of any type of health and social care support to meet their care needs. The demographic analysis on the ageing population the UK has shown that the number of older people who are unable to perform the Activity of Daily Living (ADL) is projected to be increased by 67% from 2015 to 2040. In this context Zamir et al. (2018), mentioned that, most of the older people face issues ion performing the daily activities which are associated with their daily living. The report from World Health Organisation (WHO), has shown that, in the UK, there are 4 million older adults with age more than 65 who suffer long terms health condition such as cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, dementia and pulmonary disease. The report also shows that the percentage of older people with multi-morbidity is nearly 46% that is going to increase up to 69% in recent years. From the ONS report, it is seen that nearly 1.4 million people in the UK do not receive any type of support or care from the government as well as health and social care staffs in the country.

Prevalence:

Older people are highly prevalent to different chronic illness such as heart disease, pulmonary disease, respiratory illness, diabetes and abnormal brain function (Hafford-Letchfield et al. 2016). Evidence-based studies have shown that in the UK, majority of older people are above 65 which increases their prevalence to mortality and morbidity. World Health Organisation report shows that, in the UK, more than 40% elderly people in the NHS hospitals and GP clinics are highly prevalent to abnormal brain functioning as they have a mental illness. The ONS report shows that most of the older people in the wales who are belonging to LGBT community are reported to have faced severe discrimination and bias in terms of getting proper inclusive care for meeting their critical needs (Willis et al. 2017). Which not only pose an adverse impact on physical and psychological health of the patient but also pose adverse impact on behaviour as well as attitude of older people. In this context Jeon and Kendig (2017) mentioned in the article that the inclusive care process is one of the most important; processes which can reduce the rate of prevalence of the older people to the occurrence of mental and physical illness by providing proper health and social care and support to the older people. Ageing population in the UK deals with several factors that are associated with their prevalence to the chronic illness such as lack of social and family support, lack of financial support, poverty, discrimination, social exclusion and marginalisation. In this context, Johnson et al. (2017.) Stated that, UK government needs to intensify the overall inclusive care process which will not only determine the needs of older people but also will remove the source of illness in terms of improving the inner strength and confidence of older people which will reduce their prevalence to chronic disease. By analysing the complex health needs of the older people in the UK, it is seen that majority of the older people in the care homes are prevalent and depression as a result of the isolation and lack of communication they face in the care homes (Simpson et al. 2017). Therefore, from the overall discussion it can be stated that the UK government needs to focus on intensifying the overall inclusive care system which will use modern social technique and innovating treatment process in terms of meeting the unmet health and social care needs of the older people to assist to live a normal life.

Analysis of media:

Newspaper has been one of the most trustworthy sources in representing the actual scenario of health and social care in society. In UK, newspaper is one of the convenient and strongest medium of highlighting the issues, drawbacks and barriers that healthcare professionals face in terms of offering inclusive care to elderly people. In UK there are many popular newspapers such as The daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Times, The Sunday Times, Financial Times , The Guardian, The observer and The independent that play important roles in not only highlighting the actual care and treatment process that elderly people receive in NHS hospitals, but also represent the challenges that NHS trust and NHS professionals face to implement inclusive elderly care. As mentioned by Van Weert et al. (2016), newspaper is the strangest medium for elderly people to express their health needs as well as their issues of elderly people in receiving high quality health and social care in front of government and society. In UK, The Sunday Telegraph, The Times and The Sun are three potential newspapers that consistently highlight the below standard care, lack of modernised treatment and poor clinical assessment methods in NHS hospitals for elderly people, that increase their risk toward long terms health condition such as cardio vascular disease, cancer and pulmonary illness. The healthcare edition of The Guardian newspaper is highly active in representing how elderly people receive discrimination, bully, lack of care and support, lack of proper foods and respect in care homes, that interfere with their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. As stated by Johnson et al. (2017), newspaper is the only trustworthy medium that can go beyond their professional boundary to reveal the truth of the nasty game of health and social care process in society. In UK The Sun and Daily Mail are two popular newspaper that publish the healthcare issues faced by elderly people in care homes and NHS hospitals. Additionally, these two new papers are famous for their feedback page in which many elderly people can represent their views regarding the way they receive treatment and care from health care staffs and health professionals. Newspapers in UK play active roles in highlighting whether the care and treatment process that are provided to elderly people are relevant to their needs. Additionally, newspapers also assist the UK government, society and healthcare authority to make collaboration in terms of developing highly effective treatment and care strategy that can be highly inclusive to individual health needs of elderly patients. In addition to this, these newspapers are associated with highlighting the actual picture of discrimination, abuse and bias in providing health and social care to the elderly patient in UK (Van Weert et al. 2016). Although there are barriers, still newspapers in UK play important roles in highlighting actual picture of the health and social care system for elderly people which pose severe impact on government to make proper reform of health care policies in terms of improve in the overall health and social care system for older people.

Reflection statement:

The above-mentioned discussion has assisted me to learn about inclusive care process and its importance for the older people in meeting their unmet needs. In addition to this, through using the data analysis part, I have gathered vast knowledge on the fact that how the ever-increasing but the number of older populations in the UK as well as in the world increases the scarcity of proper health and social care framework to meet the unmet needs. In addition to this, through this study, I have gathered knowledge on the demographic of the ageing population into UK, how its impact on the prevalence of the older people to the chronic illness. In addition to the study assisted me to gather proper knowledge on how the older people suffer due to their unmet needs and poor health condition. Through the selected pieces of evidence that I have collected for this study, I have learnt that how media especially newspapers assist people to communicate their financial and social condition. This study also assisted me to understand how newspaper assists the government to get support from et international investors in improving the overall health and social care system for the poor people. Finally, the study assisted me to gather knowledge on how the inclusive care system is effective for the older people to determine their health and social care needs and use better technique and innovating clinical process to meet these needs.

Data collection process:

In this research study research had used primary qualitative data collection process, in which 60 elderly patients of above 65 age who from different NHS hospitals in England selected for conducting a telephonic interview. Due to health complications of these patients, face to face interview could nit be conducted. The response of each patients has been recorded properly. The recorded responses are then used to analyse the important information that elderly patients have revealed about there are and treatment process that they get from NHS hospitals. Privacy, interest and preferences of patients are respected and maintained throughout the interview that made this research authentic and valid.

Data analysis:

The research study has used qualitative primary data analysis process in which relevant resources are collected regarding the research topic. Through using the price information from the selected pieces of evidence, the study has analysed the framework on inclusive care system in the UK for older people.

Research ethics:

While conducting telephonic interview, researcher has taken informed consent from patients. Researcher has maintained privacy and confidentiality of information that are collected from elderly patients over phone. Each elderly patient is treated with proper respect dignity and ther choices as well as presences are given prime consideration. The database that are used in thi research is valid and highly relevant to the research topic that assist researcher to meet researcher objectives. The participants are equality treated and their autonomy is respected throughout the interview. Researcher has informed each patient about the purpose and objective of this data collection before starting the telephonic interview. The database that are used in this researcher are highly transferable and authentic that enhance the acracy of research findings.

Conclusion:

From the overall discussion, it can be concluded that UK struggle for providing inclusive care to all the older people with unmet needs due to the number of older people increases over time which makes it difficult for the health and social care staffs to cover all the older people with their unmet needs. The study also concludes that older people are highly prevalent to chronic disease which makes it important for the UK government to develop such a health and social care system which will provide innovative care process to these older people to protect their health. In addition to this, the demographics of ageing population in the UK has shown that, health and social care staffs need to maintain the ethical and moral values while determining the health and social care needs of older people in term of protecting their right and respects their values and decisions.

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