Fresh calls to fix Britain’s crumbling care system have been sparked after the heartbreaking story of a pensioner’s struggle to see her severely ill husband has struck the nation.
72-year-old Fenella Clapham has spent the last two years making a 260-mile round trip to visit her husband Brian, who suffers with dementia, due to the lack of care services near to their home in Clacton.
Mrs Clapham travels from Clacton-on-Sea in Essex to St Magnus Hospital in Surrey every few weeks, being forced to use public transport as she cannot drive.
Clapham told The Gazette: “He gets so upset and he thinks I don’t want him here. I broke down the other day. He is so far away, I can’t console him.”
Clare Muldoon hit out at Britain’s ‘broken’ care system after hearing Fenella’s story
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Reacting to the story on GB News, commentator Clare Muldoon was outraged at the inability to house Mr Clapham closer to his wife, fuming: “Why is our care system so broken?
“It’s so broken in the family courts at the very beginning of life for people, and it turns out that it’s exactly the same at the end of life for people as well.
“They should be able to be taken care of by their family in hospitals or hospices close to the family.”
Weighing in on the case, commentator Benjamin Butterworth argued that the country is “not being honest” about “how tough care system challenges are to solve”.
72 year old Fenella Clapham is forced to travel over 200 miles to visit her dementia stricken husband (stock image)
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Butterworth explained: “When Theresa May suggested selling people’s homes to cover the costs of this, it swung the election from her having the majority that she needed.
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“It was the elderly that reacted against it, but now we still have incredible costs to meet. It’s a demographic cost that we could see coming, because the percentage of our population that are pensionable age is bigger than ever – that’s one of the reasons why we have a crisis in social care and in the NHS.”
In disagreement with Butterworth, host Nana Akua argued that the current Labour Government could be putting more funding into Britain’s care system instead of “giving massive pay rises to train drivers”.
Nana hit back at Butterworth: “It’s absurd – the pay rises that they’ve given across the board amount to £8billion. That’s a lot of money that’s part of the black hole.”
Butterworth then interjected: “That doesn’t make sense – if we don’t pay our junior doctors, we won’t have anybody to look after our elderly. We have a shortage of doctors and a shortage of nurses.”
Clare Muldoon was outraged by the Clacton couple’s circumstances
GB News
An Essex County Council spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on an individual case.
“However, we always work with families and our NHS partners to arrange an appropriate discharge plan for individuals, once the person is deemed medically ready to leave hospital.
“When sourcing an appropriate care setting in the community, we are restricted by the availability of appropriate provision, as well as whether care homes accept they can meet the individual in question’s needs.
“We remain in dialogue with this family and hope to find a solution as soon as possible. As always, the safety and wellbeing of all residents in our care is our absolute priority.”