BETTY Dow has been talking about playing dominoes and cards, when she breaks off suddenly: “I look at the phone and there’s no-one to phone because they are all gone,” says the 87-year-old. “My brother and sister are gone too. It’s awful when you get old.”
She jokes about her ailments and adds that she is better off than some. “I can’t hear, I’ve got no balance and I can’t see out of one eye. All I need’s a wooden leg” she adds. “But my nephew and his wife look after me. They are there every day.”
It isn’t like that for 85-year-old Margaret McGowan. “My husband had two chairs by the window he liked to sit in. I look at them and talk with him. Other people would be frightened, but I’m not. He died 26 years ago.” she says.
Her two sons have families and busy lives in London and Doncaster, she says, and she sees them only once a year, although they call regularly. “I’m in the house all day by myself. This is the only place I’ve got to come, one day a week.”
“This” is the Fred Paton Day Centre near St George’s Cross in Glasgow. Run by the Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Association (GOPWA), it puts on daily activities, busing in elderly members from across the city to take part in everything from carpet bowls to Zumba, quizzes and an occasional day trip. For a fiver each, they get a three-course home-cooked meal.
“Quite a lot of people let themselves go. You have to be able to busy yourself up a bit,” says Mrs McGowan. “This centre is good, although they don’t have the funds to do as much as we’d like.”
Day centres such as the Fred Paton are one way to ensure age, bereavement or illness do not mean older people have to be alone. GOPWA assesses would-be participants to ascertain if they are suitable and arranges transport for them to attend (the charity doesn’t have the resources to cope with those who need wheelchairs or have severe dementia). But its resources are strained.
Chief executive Sheena Glass says cuts have already forced the charity to close two day centres. It’s a worry, she says, and a false economy. “Loneliness and isolation is the new cancer for older people. But they never speak about it – most of them will never admit to being lonely,” she says. “It is over a year since the cuts and we’ve managed to find places for those who need it the most. But we’ve also got a neighbourhood visiting service.”
Increasing charges for council-run services are also a common complaint. Glasgow City Council, like several other councils, has increased the cost of attending its own day centres. For some, these have risen to £15 a day, plus £5 for lunch, meaning only the most well-off pensioners can manage more than one or two days’ attendance a week.
However, the council points out that those with the most limited means pay less, or nothing at all. It undoubtedly puts some off coming though, and means others come less often.
A spokesman for Age Scotland said: “Social care charges by councils for non-residential services are hugely problematic.” This applies to adult day care, lunch clubs, meals at home and telecare services, he added. “There is a concern charges are being inflated to offset declining or frozen incomes from other sources.”
Many councils do not publish their charging policies, he says, and there are wide variations in costs around the country. “The Scottish Government has called for more consistency in approach and we agree: if this cannot be achieved, we will support calls for regulation at a national level.”
Where day centres are still available they are well used. The Fred Paton Centre feels bright and lively and those present enjoy chatting, reminiscing and getting out of the house. As for Betty, she’s off to do chair exercises. “It’s important to do exercises every day,” she says.
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