Six shocking facts about the state of elderly care in the UK

By 2025 there will be a deficit of 600,000 carers

In total, 44 per cent of people in the UK believe the standard of care for elderly people is “poor” or “very poor”, research by SuperCarers has found.

Sadly, this is despite the fact that two million elderly people in the UK have a care related need and four million will need daily help by 2029.

Furthermore, it is expected that by 2025 there will be a deficit of 600,000 carers.

Adam Pike, CEO and co-founder of SuperCarers, said: “It’s worrying to see that as a nation we feel we are not providing the best possible care for older people. People are living longer and the need to look after the elderly has become more and more pressing. There are plenty of skilled care workers across the country, and we need to connect them to those most in need.

Take a look at six shocking facts about the state of elderly care in the UK:

1. 21 per cent of people in the UK are currently looking after their parents which highlights the number of elderly people without any family care support and the potential for a growing epidemic of loneliness in old age
2. Women are more likely than men to be caring for an elderly parent. This rises to 25 per cent of 45-54 year-olds and emphasises the stresses placed on women given the fact that many have already had to give up on careers to care for children
3. People express much more confidence in their ability to care for their parents than the standard of care in the nation as a whole – while only 13per cent think that elderly care overall is good, 66 per cent believe they are taking care of their own parents well or very well
4. Only 13 per cent of people aged 45 and over believe the elderly are looked after well or very well
5. Older people (aged 64+) are less likely to think they are well looked after than 55-46 year-olds and 45-54 year-olds, potentially highlighting a level of complacency and apathy towards elderly care amongst younger people
6. On a regional level, people in Northern Ireland and the East Midlands are most likely to believe that older people are being looked after well or very well. Meanwhile, those in the North West and Wales are most likely to say that the care given to the elderly by the UK as a nation is ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’