Have you planned for your parents?

My heart says ‘yes!’ Everyone connected with aged care would love to see a better solution that allowed people more freedom and dignity towards the end of life, and for some people, alternatives such as care in the home will be possible.

However, my head is uncomfortable with those who advocate the end of high care without proposing a system-wide solution – one that will meet the needs of people who have no family, live in isolated places or who reside in substandard housing.

In my view, retirement villages present the best hope. With the right housing design, care can be efficiently provided to support many people through to the end of life. But is this a viable solution for all? And how do we ensure the quality clinical care currently provided in our nursing homes is maintained?

Perhaps we could pilot a more intensive approach, along the lines of ‘care apartments’ that could provide high care to people within retirement villages, with these funds being provided from within existing residential care allocations.

Evermore, a UK retirement living provider that also happens to be chaired by Bill Thomas, is getting close. Their claim is that residents will never need to move again, thanks to ‘care packages’ being available to them.

Home care services are, of course, available to Australians too, but I still want to know what happens to those people if and when they require acute nursing care every day.

Do Evermore villages include high clinical care facilities, fully compliant and professionally staffed, to enable everyone to stay there until death parts them from their home?

If not, where do they go? Hospital? A hospice? Back to their grown-up children?

The fact remains that high-level nursing care will often be required by people nearing the end of life, and increasingly so as the population ages. We have to be realistic about the best way to provide this.

We need to find viable alternatives to nursing homes that can meet the needs of all and not just the more fortunate amongst us.

And we have to find a way of developing these concepts while effectively harnessing the unique skills of those who work in nursing homes, and respecting the wishes of those currently living there.

Have you thought about planning what your parents will do? How will they be cared for as they age? 

Perhaps you have even thought about your own future? Would you prefer to stay at home and have care come to you as necessary? Or would you prefer to take the steps into a retirement village and then into care as it’s needed? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below…