Vince Cable's article for the informer

12.00.00am GMT Wed 31st Dec 2003

Having spent the weeks approaching New Year trying to find a solution to the needs of a very elderly and frail mother, I have been forced to confront an issue that affects all families at some stage. There are a growing number of people living until advanced old age and affected by failing health and growing confusion.

Ideally the elderly should be cared for by their families and there are many grown up children who do care for their parents through illness and infirmity. Society owes them a debt and we should do more to support invaluable respite centres, like Homelink in Whitton, which give carers a break.

But the extended family has largely broken down mainly because children move away from their hometowns, as I did forty years ago, and establish a family elsewhere. Then the elderly are left, increasingly isolated.

With the help of warden-assisted sheltered housing, good domiciliary care services and hospital for emergencies many frail elderly people can support themselves for a long time, as my mother did. And all the professional advice suggests that that is better than institutional care.

But there comes a point at which the only alternative is a residential or nursing home. I am discovering, at first hand, that there is a wide range from caring, well-staffed, well laid out homes to some deeply depressing institutions. All are expensive. £500 a week or more can eat up a life's savings in a very short time.

All my instincts, and wide experiences as an MP, tell me that we should be doing everything we can to help the elderly stay amongst family and friends if at all possible and for as long as possible. This means giving carers, including those who look after disabled and handicapped dependants, much more status and support than we do.