Help for elderly expats
 

Is anybody else in agreement that elderly expats here in Spain get a raw deal? lots of the elderly expats that came over in the boom years are now at an age where they might need a bit of help and because they´re famlies are back in the UK they struggle to get help.

Spain offers no real care system for these Brits that have been here years and contributed to the system. They are caught between a rock and a hard place as this is their home but because their family are UK based they struggle getting help and are thus forced to return.

Im hoping the over zealous admins arent going to delete this post too!!

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

The admin team on here are simply stopping the forum from becoming over run with advertisements thankfully!

Jo

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

Here's a question. If the Spanish government gave free nursery home places to elderly British expats where all the other resididents and nurses only spoke Spanish, do you think that would help? I think many would find that terrifying.

As I mentioned before, the state provides no help for the Spanish elderly, so how can they provide help to the British elderly? The responsibility lands firmly on the family. Maybe the British expat families should take more responsibility and offer their relatives a place to stay at their homes in Britain or elsewhere.

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

I totally agree but just thought it would be good for people to know that such a service is available and one that helps our elderly expat community

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

so put an ad in classifieds...........

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

Surely it is about choices, we each make a choice and have to live with the outcome. You move out when your family are young so they grow up with the benefit of being bilingual, as an adult you may struggle to get to grips with the language and work but you can see beyond that. When you come out at an older age and choose to retire at say 50/60 you have to be aware that your not going to remain at that age and that is where I think that people make the mistakes, they buy a house in the campo at 50 that is in a quite area, little bus service no neighbours but do not always consider that in 20yrs time the house will still be in the same place but they will have aged and as a 70/80yr old their needs have changed hugely. They are no longer able to drive, their health may have deteriorated and the quite area has now become almost a tomb that is what drives people back home not the lack of care or facilities, it is just they can not get to them. If people thought about what they wanted out of a house not just in the here and now but say 10yrs/20yrs they would choose slightly differently.

Although urbanisations are not ideal for the adventurous types it is more suitable for the less able bodied you will have people who notice when your not about, people that you can visit and make good friends with over the years, a support network for the sick and house bound that is what keeps people here others caring enough to put themselves out. If you spoke to many of the returnees most would stay if they had the help and support they required and choosing where you live in the first instance makes that a whole lot easier.

Property takes a long time to move over here so you have to be prepared to wait and time is not always what people have on their side, the campo is lovely but it is unforgiving and untill someone comes to view your house with the same ideals as you had, you may well be stuck with it, you can not blame a society for the choices you made when you left your family, bought your dream house and then have to live with it when you get old.

We should worry less on what we have and have not but work with what is around us, have faith in others not every one is out to steal your stuff and have a little compassion for those that are struggling with health and offer a helpinig hand that is what makes a community, a society and move for life not the exchange rate, house prices or health.

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

You just don't get it be subtle have a signiture box and advertise like others do fill out your profile and advertise like others do. Yes we do need that kind of info and yes it should be out there just play the game.;)

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

I don't think they've been around long enough yet

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

If a Spanish couple moved to the countryside in the UK and encountered the problems I mentioned they would be entitled to home help etc, what is the point of being in a European community if there is no consistency between countries?

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

Thanks for that, its all new to me!!

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

I think you arent getting the point.

EU rules state that a British resident in Spain should be entitled to the same help that a Spanish person gets in Spain. i.e. in the case of elderly people, none at all.

You can't move to Spain and then demand that Spain is more like Britain! Spain is free to govern its country how it seems fit in a democratic manner.

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

It's always been the case that UK has a system in place to look after the elderly, and Spain hasn't, nothing has changed. It's always been that way, even people moving out at a young age with no thoughts of retirement, should know what awaits them and plan accordingly. Obviously the Spanish have family around them to look after them, but Brits normally don't, but that shouldn't come as a big surprise, it was always going to happen.:(

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

The reason people move or have moved here is because it is very different to the UK, The UK has not always had home help, free health care, benefits for those less fortunate and each country moves at its own pace, Spain is getting there and in 20/30yrs time they will have it and by then the UK will be like the USA is now and people will still be saying that it is still behind the times because what they have had seems to denote what they should expect.

In mid 1948 they introduced free health care can you imagine how some must have felt needing to pay for a doctor because they got sick a week before it was free. Maybe the UK should be more like the rest of Europe and not offer the free benefits then maybe it would not be seen as the place to be and thus make Brits move to countries that are not like the UK.

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

Careful, USA is most definitely not ahead of the UK or the rest of Europe when it comes to healthcare and benefits. But I do get the sentiment of your post.

Spain isnt the UK and the UK isnt Spain. Things work differently in both countries.

Re: Help for elderly expats
 

I was not pointing out the healthcare side of it but more to do with the lifestyle and how we live our lives.

In the USA a person will stand and watch a man die in the street because he is frightened of being sued should the man die anyway and if he has tried to help it will open him up to litigation. The Uk is becoming more and more about blaming someone else and making a quick buck. It will only be a matter of time until the same happens in the UK where every accident has a lawyer chasing the ambulance ready to blame someone else. They call this progress.