Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

Exactly the same kind of very sad cases happen in the UK where there is supposed to be all kinds of help available, rather than care of the elderly and disabled being "a private matter".

Like these:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21340238
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...l-2305613.html

The situation there is not universally wonderful either:-

http://www.theguardian.com/social-ca...sive-challenge

I have 3 lots of elderly neighbours in my street who receive daily visits from uniformed carers employed by the Junta de Andalucia Social Services Department. The carers are there for hours and do all kinds of housework (I've seen them cleaning windows standing on ladders, which my mother who worked as a home help for a time in the UK, years ago, was forbidden to do even then). They can often be seen with the elderly person leaning on their arm to go out and do a bit of shopping or just get a bit of fresh air and exercise. The wife of a Spanish guy we know who lives nearby has just got a job as just such a carer, so they are still taking people on (quite possibly on temporary contracts) even in the face of all the austerity cuts. I'm sure the provision is patchy, better in some areas than others and no doubt insufficient to meet the demand, but it does exist.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

Good to hear it exists Lynn. Sometimes with the older generation is a matter of pride. I know of an instance here where assistance was available and offered but refused by the person.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

You are so right. My siblings and I worry about our aunt who lives alone at 89 and still does nearly all her own shopping, housework and even painting and decorating. My nephews help look after her garden and my sister also helps with heavy laundry, shopping and accompanies her to hospital visits (I am lucky she has that back-up close by as I only stay with her a couple of times a year and try to do what I can whilst I'm there). When we have broached the subject of getting any help to her, she is outraged by the very idea!

My Dad was just the same, I once suggested it would be a good idea to get a home help and he went off on one!

They hate to lose their independence.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

I too have an aunt in a similar position although not as elderly as your aunt. I'm 300 miles away and can do very little on a day to day basis. My sister and cousins however are amazing with her.

I think that if I get to that stage/age I too would be indignant and probably refuse.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

Also it is a matter of pride in being able to look after themselves.
I am sure you, like me are exactly the same when a small problem restricts your activity for a few days. Think what it is like if it becomes permanant :eek:

my father was exactly the same, he was almost 90 when he died, and other than some basic cleaning things he had problems getting his head round, remained active almost to the end. When he entered the last stage in hospital he insisted so strongly that he wanted to be in his own home and not be a burden to anyone, nor get in their way. So the crazy woman from Social Services said "it is his wish to go home so he should be released".
However it was patently obvious that a man of that age who couldn't get himself out of bed to go to the toilet without a) falling out of bed b) not being able to stand without a frame which he had difficulty moving, was not a suitable candidate for sending home where he lived alone. But they did.
And got him back again 36 hours later as an emergency admission by ambulance called by his GP, who was seething that he had been sent home alone, Social Services hadn't informed him, nor his carer.

It is the "final fall" that seems to break the spirit when it comes to looking after ones self, and after that point everything starts to go wrong
:(:(

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

Absolutely - a few years ago I had my arm in plaster for a few weeks and I felt awful, so useless having to ask for help with silly things and strangely vulnerable when I was out as well, looking over my shoulder nervously when at a cash machine, for example, whereas normally I wouldn't have given it a second thought. I remember thinking at the time, this must be a bit like how you feel when you get old, and it wasn't nice.

The thing that really worries us about our aunt is that she flatly refuses to have a telephone in the house - she is very deaf and insists she wouldn't be able to use one. We have told her about the adapted ones which are available for deaf people, shown her information from the RNID about the mobile phones they recommend for the deaf, I even offered to buy her one of those last year but she just will not have it. I know if I went ahead and bought her one anyway it would just be put away in a drawer, so there's no point. We all dread her having a fall or just being taken suddenly ill and not being able to let anyone know. Even to have one of those personal alarms that are available, you need a phone line, as if it activates they want to be able to ring the person to check if a call-out is needed.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

One thing that I don't like about the UK is the lack of patriotism and unity, and that seems to be getting worse not better.

Even though Spain has a lot of different regional cultures, the country on the whole still seems a lot more unified than the UK does.

Spain tends to look after its own first and foremost, unlike the UK where it seems to be everyone else before the locals.

The difference between Spain and the UK is if push came to shove in Spain, immigrants would suffer first and have their money and property taken before native Spaniards would.

In contrast in the UK it would likely be the native British who would bare the brunt of any serious economic cuts and asset grabs before the immigrants would.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

Having heard from our UKIP candidate it is now time for the raving loony monster party. Oh , its the same person.
Rascism is starting to appear appear sadly far too often on this forum.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

you need a fone line for all personal alarms, they trigger a box which is programmed to call a telephone number, IIRC you can set up more than one number in case of no reply.

my father lived in a warden controlled bungalow, emergency pull cords in every room, although some seemed to be in funny places and almost inaccessible. Anyway, he had the cords coiled up high and unreachable because it was too easy to make a false call and they get in the way.....

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

" Who are the English ".

Like almost everyone who calls them selves English I have Scots, Irish and who knows what else in my ancestory.
Are the " true " english those few chinless interbred few from the upper classes who still cling to their mouldering estates.
Our Royal family, family is more German than Englsh it was only Geirge V1 who married someone born in the UK, prior to that there were all from the continent.
Being English is a state of mind rather than a nationality.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

I consider myself English even though one of my Grandfathers was Spanish and a lot of the family are Jews. Part of the family I have traced back to a place in the forest of Dean to 1620. Good enough for me I feel English and I think English.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

I think this post tells us everything you know about Spain i.e. not very much

Spain is a deeply divided country between left and right. The same lines that were drawn during the civil war exist today. The left want to convert the right, and the right want to kill all the left, nothing much has changed

Add the fact that there are 4 official languages and about one fifth of Spaniards wouldnt actually call themselves Spanish at all, and you can see that it is completely incomparable to the UK. To complicate matters, 5 million immigrants have arrived in Spain during the last 10 years, and over one third of them are now unemployed

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

These days you can use mobile technology so no 'fone line' is actually required.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

Agree in part, certainly since the 50's the UK has had an incredible amount of immigrants, and thanks to Labour, we've had 4 million in the last 10 years alone, so not surprising that the country is less patriotic.
I wouldn't agree necessarily that Spain is more united, the Catalans and the Basques want out, even the Andaluces have Nación Andaluza which wants it's own state. And it wasn't that long ago they were all slaughtering each other, the wounds haven't all healed that's for sure.
I agree the Spanish would look after their own, but whereas we tend to follow the EU rules, the likes of Spain simply ignore what they don't like, and nothing is done. So who can blame them? Spain banned the entry of Rumanians for a year with the EU blessing, could you see them giving us a green light to stop people flooding in? France has closed the borders, nothing done though. Last year the Germans tried it too. We're the suckers for seemingly abiding by every little rule that the EU puts out.

Re: Would you go back to the UK ?
 

This statement couldnt be any more wrong

The UK blocked entry for Romanians and Bulgarians, Spain did not, as a result there are 870,000 Romanians in Spain, its largest immigrant group

You don't actually know anything about Spain at all, do you?

http://imbratisare.blogspot.com.es/2...espana-no.html

Immigrants make up a similar proportion of the population in Spain as they do in the UK. All this UK nonsense about all immigrants wanted to end up in the UK is just racist jingoism

The EU are making the UK lift their block on Romanians and Bulgarians next year. As they rightly say, there are 1 million Brits living in other EU countries, what gives the UK the right to pick and choose which EU members it lets into the UK?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...n_2686688.html