{"id":35402,"date":"2015-10-07T10:41:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T09:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=35402"},"modified":"2015-10-07T14:19:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T13:19:42","slug":"emma-ladds-remembering-to-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/10\/07\/emma-ladds-remembering-to-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Emma Ladds: Remembering to care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/07\/photo-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-34852\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/07\/photo-5-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"photo (5)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>There is something both heartwarming and heartbreaking about the sight: an older\u00a0man, so stooped he is bent almost double, pushing an empty wheelchair down the pavement. His wristband marks him out as a hospital inpatient. Step by faltering step, he totters back towards the large white building and the awaiting ward.<\/p>\n<p>A woman\u2014his wife I presume\u2014walks beside him, now and again reaching a hand out to the chair\u2014for support herself or perhaps to correct its wavering course. She too is frail, with silver hair pulled back tightly, and wearing a neat twinset and pearls. Despite her sensible shoes, it is impossible to imagine how she could possibly propel her husband in his chair\u2014perhaps they have simply run out of walking\u00a0frames on the ward again.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The hospital towers in front of them. Indistinct figures can be seen behind the large windowpanes and I picture the hectic geriatric ward many floors above. The continuous, appropriately soulless beeps and buzzers as the confused or infirm call for help or simply some human company; the swarm of doctors who pass through once a day, leaving a trail of investigations and medications in their wake\u2014it seems such an unlikely setting for the couple before me. They seem neither infirm nor demented, just frail and old.<\/p>\n<p>As I watch, the man gesticulates anxiously at the chair. The woman hesitates, watches him motion again, and then steps stiffly sideways and folds herself inside. Her husband applies himself, and slowly, slowly, the chair moves forwards.<\/p>\n<p>Heartbreaking, I decide as their silhouette passes slowly through the automatic doors and the couple are swallowed by the hospital. They don\u2019t belong here. Our &#8220;modern&#8221; hospitals do not treat older patients well. What good is separation in an anonymous bed in a hospital ward, where you\u2019ll be subjected to an endless barrage of investigations and a stream of different faces? The majority of older patients do not need expensive tests or drugs. They need love, care, and recognition by their community; the support of a GP to sustain their quality of life for as long as possible; and, above all, help with the cleaning and shopping, with getting out of bed in the morning, and preparing meals. However, in our world of high-tech immediacy, these simple solutions seem to be far beyond our reach.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Emma Ladds<\/strong> is an academic F2 in Severn Deanery about to commence plastic surgery themed core surgical training in the Oxford Deanery.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Competing interests: None declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is something both heartwarming and heartbreaking about the sight: an older\u00a0man, so stooped he is bent almost double, pushing an empty wheelchair down the pavement. His wristband marks him [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/10\/07\/emma-ladds-remembering-to-care\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nhs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Emma Ladds: Remembering to care - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/10\/07\/emma-ladds-remembering-to-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emma Ladds: Remembering to care - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is something both heartwarming and heartbreaking about the sight: an older\u00a0man, so stooped he is bent almost double, pushing an empty wheelchair down the pavement. 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