Friday 12 June 2009

Here we go again...

PENSIONERS with Alzheimer’s and dementia have been left without a local source of support after the closure of the Bodnant EMI unit at Llandudno Hospital. Edwina Hart, however, has ordered her own officials in North Wales to look again at access to care for pensioners with Alzheimer’s and dementia amid protests in the wake of the unit’s closure.

The unit, which closed in February when the service was transferred to Bryn Hesketh in Colwyn Bay, provided inpatient support for tghose with Alzheimer’s and other age-related mental issues.

There is a problem with the NHS; it's reliant on Government money, which itself comes from taxation and hence from the working population and successful businesses. In a major recession, that money becomes scarce. Additionally, we have an older,population than many places, which means we consume more resources. However, that very population has - for the most part - been paying tax and national insurance for their whole life and has a right to expect that care will be provided locally. And - as many can vouch from personal experience - Llandudno hospital is a little jewel.

In Autumn, however, with the onset of the 'flu season, the NHS this year will be stretched. And then they're going to have to have capacity.

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