Into 2015 and the ‘bashing the elderly brigade’ are still at it.
OAPs are fed up of hearing they are responsible for all the ails of this country, and lately, the NHS.
We had enough of it all through 2014 with threats of withdrawing the winter fuel allowance, bus passes, and tv licences, etc. We are not responsible for the chaos in hospital wards due the elderly ‘bed blocking’. With care in the community almost non-existent, is it any wonder that the elderly and frail are not being discharged?
We are also not to blame for the current large influx of new patients in waiting rooms and clinics.
When will the powers that be come clean and admit there are just too many people in this country, due to years of unrestricted immigration policy in the past, plus our ever porous border controls?
The elderly, existing on the lowest state pension in Europe, are not the people clogging up the A&Es drunk and disorderly at weekends. It isn’t the elderly who are the health tourists, leaving hospitals after expensive treatment without paying a penny. Just try to get the free treatment in other European countries and you are told to pay up before any treatment. It appears their doctors all run private practices. Even their pharmacies charge you for prescription items.
The elderly are the one section of society that have paid into the NHS since its inception. I was in full employment for one company for 44 years, have been retired for 24 years and am still paying income tax.
I draw the state pension, which incidentally is not classed as a benefit, without every claiming any of the other well-know benefits, so you can see why I feel so aggrieved.
I really don’t know what this country is coming to.
Reg O’Donoghue, Wooler Street, Walworth.