Madam, – We are hearing a lot lately about elder abuse and rightly so. But it’s a little worrying to read (HEALTHplus, June 8th) that of the 1,870 referrals received by the HSE, 435 involved “self-neglect” which ranged from “refusing to take medication or failing to eat properly to not washing or changing clothes, hoarding and even living without basic necessities such as electricity”.
I have a dear old friend who lived quite satisfactorily on his own, long past his 90th birthday. He has recently made the decision to go into residential care and now has a bath every week, but he assured me that until this move his hair hadn’t been washed for over 30 years. This affected neither his health, his happiness nor the joy that neighbours had in his company.
God forbid that some HSE police will in future be checking to ensure we have had our daily shower, eaten our five fruit/vegetable portions, taken our medication and that our presses do not show evidence of “hoarding”. I confess to having on occasion committed all the sins listed in the HSE report – apart from cutting off the electricity – and wonder what they might do to me? – Yours, etc,