Report into the conditions of the elderly, disabled and housebound living in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Research conducted by Ewa Jozefkowicz, working for the East European Advice Centre in June-July 2005.

The main aim of the report was to investigate the quality of exiting health, social and welfare services for elderly people of East-European origin living in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, as well as the problems, which they encounter in using them. The gathered information would enable EEAC to gain a greater understanding of how to provide aid for this social group. The research was conducted chiefly through the following two methods:

• Conducting interviews with a sample of 25 elderly people living in the borough.

• Visiting organisations within Hammersmith and Fulham, which provide care for the elderly, as well as wards for the elderly in major hospitals within the borough.

The results have been grouped under a series of headings for greater clarity.

Healthcare and Disability provision

Of the people questioned 36% proved to have a disability impairing their capacity to care for themselves independently. However, from this group, most had admitted to changing the organisation or individual, which offered them home help for the following reasons (In order from the highest frequency of answers to the lowest):

1. They found it difficult to communicate with their home help, due to lack of knowledge of the English Language.

2. The home help worked during fixed hours, which did not suit the individual. One elderly lady stated: ‘I would often have a difficult night, as I found difficulty getting to sleep until the early hours of the morning. My carer would arrive at 8.30, when I would be exhausted and frustrated.’

3. Lack of trust for the carer – including fear that they would steal their belongings.

4. One organisation issuing a number of carers, who would visit the individual in turn, meaning that the elderly person was unable to form an intimate relationship with any of them.

As much as 81% of those questioned claimed that they had been forced to visit a hospital due to their health problems more than twice during the last year. Of the four hospitals in the Borough: Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, Ravenscourt Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital, the last had the largest proportion of patients of East-European origin in their Elderly Wards. Head Nurse Errolyn McKenzie of Peter Helps Ward for the Elderly in Charing Cross Hospital stated that the language barrier proved to be a common difficulty with such patients. Dementia posed an added problem causing several of those who could speak English to lose this ability and return to their mother tongue. The difficulties were combated partly through the employment of trained nurses from East European background, and partly through the aid of the patients’ next of kin, who would phonetically spell some basic words, which would enable the staff to communicate with the patient. Due to being very costly to employ, interpreters were used only in extreme cases. However, the ward was hoping to get extra aid from a volunteer programme, part of which aims to recruit students speaking Slavonic languages.

Existing Organisations for the Elderly

From the sample of elderly questioned, 62% claimed to take advantage of at least one organisation for the aged. However, of this percentage, only 34% stated that they were pleased with the quality of the service provided. The most frequent complaints were as follows:

• The service was run on an ad-hoc basis and workers often do not arrive at the agreed time.

• Workers become frustrated when the elderly find it difficult to communicate with them, due to language problems.

Age Concern - This organisation cares for 80 elderly people on a regular basis. 15% are of East European origin: of which 9% are Polish and the rest Lithuanian or Hungarian. There is regular financial and legal advice given to all members as well as an anti-abuse programme. The organisation runs a social club and ‘Pop In’ Café for over-55s. A day-care service is available for all elderly people and home help is also provided, including a bathing service. Age Concern is a voluntary organisation and is in constant need of extra volunteers, preferably those able to speak foreign languages. Currently, a number of volunteers are of Polish origin, which solves the problem of communication difficulties with clients who speak only Polish.

West London Dial-a-Ride – Roughly 30% of registered clients are of East European origin, most of whom speak English well. However, the organisation director admitted to cases of losing other clients due to unresolved quarrels about e.g. arrival time, caused as a result of the language barrier.

‘Central Registry for the Blind and Disabled’ and ‘Action on Disability’ – Both organisations admit to only helping clients, who either speak English at a conversational level or already have carers or assistants who could translate for them. There is a desperate need for volunteers.

Leisure, Recreation and solving the problem of Loneliness

Of the sample of elderly questioned, only 34% claimed that they regularly attended activities or social clubs in their borough, mostly due to fear of being lonely. A further 18% stated that they were not interested in socialising, whilst the remainder admitted that they would enjoy joining such organisations but either had inadequate information of what was available in the area (14%), had difficulties with transport (22%) or felt they would be unable to participate due to the language barrier (12%).

Several leisure and social clubs were visited with the following result:

• Both the Polish Parish in Ealing Broadway and the Hammersmith Parish of St. Andrew Bobola run regular social meetings and services for the elderly: the former operates a Luncheon Club for the Aged (midday – 2.30pm daily) and organises annual trips to places of interest, whilst the latter has ‘after-mass tea’ for the elderly. However, these services are only available to parishioners of Polish Origin. Other Church organisations for East Europeans are lacking in the borough.

• Age Concern in Hammersmith & Fulham, Acton and Ealing, runs Arts and Crafts activities for the elderly as well as a Film Club, but admits to giving their clubs little publicity, meaning that knowledge of them is obtained through word of mouth only.

• There are 3 major Bingo Halls in the borough, a Bowles Club and 2 dance clubs holding sessions for the elderly. However, long-time members mainly use these and very little publicity is given.

Report Recommendations

The information collected in the report was used to draw up a series of recommendations:

1. Information Provision- EEAC could produce leaflets for elderly clients in their language of origin about local organisations and services, which could offer them aid: ranging from transport services to leisure activities – There was a significant lack of knowledge about these amongst those questioned.

2. Recruitment of Multilingual volunteers – EEAC could recruit volunteers to work for short periods in elderly organisations in the borough, such as Age Concern, to both interpret and care for the East-European Aged.

3. Cooperation with local hospitals – A system of co-working with local hospitals would enable EEAC to provide voluntary translation for the aged and sick.

4. Expansion of the Elderly Volunteers Project- It is evident that many of the elderly people questioned would benefit from a volunteer (who speaks their language) visiting them on a regular basis – This would enable the problems of loneliness and lack of trust for home helpers to be reduced or even eliminated.