THE French entertainer Maurice Chevalier said that “growing old isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative”. In light of the Covid care carnage, Le Vieux Maurice might change his opinion. Most friends of my vintage echo Woody Allen. We’re “not afraid of dying, but don’t want to be around when it happens”. Our bigger fear is the prospect of becoming reliant on care.

Deaths in care amongst the over-70s represent the most serious collateral damage of coronavirus and potentially, the greatest scandal. The First Minister’s grief over the tragedy is unquestionably genuine. However, rightly or wrongly, many believe the death rate amongst our age group moved up the agenda only when it began to skew the statistics, the graphs and that pesky R value.

Any inquiry into the Covid care catastrophe should be the starting point for a much wider look at care for the elderly. The poor may be with us always, but so will the elderly. Scotland’s ageing population makes current arrangements increasingly unsustainable. Change will be driven by demand and cost. Home care, at around £12,000 a year is already eye – wateringly expensive. Residential and nursing care can push the cost towards £1000 a week. Costs devour savings and lead to the sale of family homes. Demands on the public purse is becoming unsustainably heavy.

We are not alone in facing the care conundrum. In 2018, 330 million Chinese were over 50. The Chinese government has long recognised the impossibility of the state providing wrap around care for an elderly population of that magnitude. Crucially, Asian cultural responses to the elderly differ markedly from those of the West. Here, granny and grandpa can be seen as burdens, especially when no longer required for child care. In Japan and Vietnam things are different. Age and experience are valued, with multiple generations often living under the same roof. Japan has a policy of “no elderly person left behind”, while China has introduced an Elderly Rights Law. Both place family at the heart of their care strategies.

The Scottish Government has set itself a target to reshape care for older people based on personalisation, independence and control over decision making. All very commendable, but fine principles and words will not be enough. A cultural shift on how we perceive and care for the elderly is needed. Demographics and economics will dictate more family-centred approaches. Hospitals and care homes should be places of last resort, not somewhere to file and forget older relatives. Future strategies must be inclusive, valuing our experience and skills. For the elderly, the legacy of coronavirus should be that we are not an age-old problem, but an age-old resource.

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