Death of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II
Posted on 15th September 2022 at 09:02
(Written by Tammy Cooney, TLC Virtual Assistant)
Indicative of an aging population
At the time of writing, our beautiful country seems to be in a collective type of mourning. The atmosphere is palpable as we all come to terms with the loss of our Queen Elizabeth II and one of the greatest icons of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Whether a royalist, or not, there is no debate to be had regarding Elizabeth’s ceaseless faith and steadfast service to our nation. It is sometimes incomprehensible to us that the Queen was 96 years old upon her death, an age which many of us are unlikely to reach. She was serving our country and the commonwealth up until her death, holding an audience with Great Britain’s newest Prime Minister Liz Truss, only two days before her death.
Is the longevity of life which she experienced due to privilege, genetic or a mapped-out type of fate? I guess we will never know. However, the length of the Queen’s life is indicative of our aging population.
Advancements in medicine and medical knowledge are leaping forward every day; cures for cancers, specialist treatments of diseases and many other medical wonders all contribute to an aging population. In ensuring we can treat illness and disease we are in turn increasing the life expectancy of the UK, which now stands at 81 years (2022 - datacommons.org). While the Queen far outlived the standard life expectancy, she joined a growing number of the population who live well into their 90’s. I do not know the figures, but one would assume that the number of telegrams sent by the Queen to centenarians in the UK, had also grown. Perhaps this is a question for our new King Charles III!
With life expectancy rising, so then is the need for elderly care in the UK. We have been, as a nation, desperately trying to address this issue with the building of new nursing/care homes and the conversion of some older buildings (sometimes old hospital sites) into nursing/care homes. An area which is now being tackled further is the training provided for care workers. The Government has been championing the use of courses, training and other further education for the upskilling of existing care giver work forces. Please visit coursedetective.co.uk for a comprehensive example of courses available in this very area.
I have no doubt that the nursing care Queen Elizabeth received in her final days at Balmoral was superb, and rightly so. Now is the time though, to ensure that the level of care bestowed on the Queen in her final days/weeks/months is the level of care we strive to offer to everyone in need of nursing/residential care in the future. Let it be the benchmark we strive to achieve for each and every person in their older years.
While most of us do not have the genes, the type of privilege or the same fate as Queen Elizabeth II, we do all have the right to the best care possible and available to us. We as a nation need to support
The upskilling of care home workforces and bestow on those workers the respect and recognition they deserve.
To the life of service and unerring faith of Queen Elizabeth II, I give thanks.
To King Charles III, I give support and respect. GOD SAVE THE KING!
Tagged as: UK
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