Did you know that prisons are Britain's biggest provider of care? Often, people compare life in a care home to life in prison but what do the facts say?
Benefits of UK care homes:
- There will always be staff there to help.
- The service user can decorate their room to make them feel at home
- Regular, nutritious meals
- The social aspect – many in care homes bond with others who live or work there
- Medication supervision
- No household bills or maintenance worries
- 4/5 social care services in England were rated as good or outstanding overall
- The NHS will pay for your care if you're unable
- 50% of older people admitted to hospital from care homes are at risk of malnutrition
- 40% of older people in care homes suffer from depression
- 37% of care homes failed on safety
- 4,699 nursing homes and 6,023 UK residential homes are without nursing
- Care homes can cost anything between £500 and £1000 per week
- Prisoners over 60 years old have tripled in the last 15 years
- There are reports of “inhumane” treatment for some older prisoners
- 40% of prison governors say that prison social care is poor or below average
“My biggest fear was getting dementia in prison. They don't know what to do about prisoners with dementia."“They're not trained to recognise it, so you get punished because they think you're playing up. I knew an older prisoner who got dementia. “He would come out of his cell naked and chuck his food around. He was punished – he spent months in seclusion, on and off, before they finally realised.” So... despite some downfalls of UK care homes, whenever people say that care in prison is better – it's fair to say they are wrong. Life in a care home is often the best thing for many of the elderly and it is nothing like being in prison.