A recent article by BBC Scotland health correspondent touches on the plights of younger adults placed in care homes for the elderly due to the lack of services in the community.
Romana (seen below) is one of the many in Scotland who was placed in a care home for the elderly when she suffered a brain haemorrhage at the age of 23, whilst pregnant.
Given the non-purpose built environment, the community in the care home and the level of services of care, it was no appropriate for a person such a Romana. She felt she had lost her family. It took 2 years before she was offered a place in a neurological centre in Aberdeen according to the article.
Pamela Mackenzie (Sue Ryder’s assistant director Scotland) was quoted as saying that “Romana was quite a different lady when she first came. She was withdrawn and depressed and she really had been written off.”
This is certainly an important issue to address the inequalities in care and ensure that younger adults attain the right services that need for rehabilitation to enable them to return to their families.
Image from the original article, for more information read: ‘Hundreds’ of young in old people’s homes
Designing for Aged Care 