Why can’t we afford the drugs needed for older people?

11/07/2007

The UK is wealthy. The government has £590 Billion to spend this financial year. Its priorities, to some extent, depends who shouts loudest and who shames them the most. However, pensioners usually are not the most dynamic or effective campaigners.

My Canadian Mother-in-Law died in March of this year. She suffered from Alzheimers. She received all of the drugs she needed irrespective of cost. She received all of the home support she required. Nothing was means tested. Canada has no NICE!

One measure of a country’s values is how it treats its old folk. To the shame of our politicians the UK, and England in particular, comes way down the list. Of course one reason may be that none of our politicians or senior civil servants are affected at all by their strategies. All have very generous index linked pensions and private health care.

Paul Rhodes, London SW19