Friday 16 November 2007

Did You Know.....

Did you know that many old people in this country are housebound because their Primary Care Trust doesn't provide free foot care for the elderly. Incredible, here we are living in one of the riches countries on earth and some people who have contributed so much to society, paid their taxes, led good lives, can't get out and about because they aren't supple enough to be able to bend down to cut their own toe nails.

OK I'll admit this is not a sexy topic. Not exactly a vote winner on the hustings. But stop and think for a moment about how embarrassed your Mum or grandad would be if they were in the same position. Do you think that they would tell you? No they wouldn't. They would either suffer in silence or just stop going out. If however they knew that they were entitled to free foot care as a right not something they had to beg for, they could then take responsibility for the care themselves.

Help the Aged, a wonderful organisation that lobbies on behalf of the older people in our community, is running a campaign to try and force the PCTs (Primary Care Trusts) to provide free foot care for all elderly people. Take a minute to join the campaign by mailing your local PCT, that's all it takes, 1 minute to complete the online form.

Take it from one who knows, foot care can be an expensive business. By my very rough calculations I have probably paid out well over £1500 in foot care over the years, and this doesn't include the cost of the operations I had (luckily we had medical insurance then).

Join the campaign - when you get old you may be glad you did

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