The system of providing care for the elderly in Northern Ireland is broken

People are living longer around the world, and particularly so in rich nations such as the UK.

Within a generation the traditional life expectancy of three-score years and ten (70) has become more like four score years (80) — indeed growing numbers of people are reaching their five score (centenary).

Now routinely elderly folk are living fulfilled and active lives well after retirement age.

The coronavirus pandemic, which posed risks that increased with age, particularly for people aged over 60, could have reversed the strides in longevity, but — mercifully — has not yet done so.

However, there are significant problems associated with the huge rise in elderly people.

The proportion of senior citizens has grown dramatically in relation to the number of people of working age. The number of people with dementia, who need significant assistance, has inevitably risen in line with the overall increase in older folk.

Meanwhile, the shrinking proportion of people who are able to work makes the cost of elderly care all the more difficult to meet for society at large.

The current system of social care is broken, and has been so for years. It has become a lottery in which some people live to a grand old age without any need for help, while others spend years in a home which wipes out most of their life savings.

The health minister Robin Swann has commissioned a review of provision. This is welcome and needed. But Stormont has a poor track record of dealing with complex political and social problems. It has ignored expert advice on NHS provision for two decades on the need for Northern Ireland to have a smaller number of world-class hospitals, because politicians do not want to be seen to close wards.

Such reform is now essential so that a more efficient health service helps free up funds that allow NI to take advantage of the fact that, unlike England, there is already a degree of integration here between health and social care.

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