Paul Johnston

Am in Lancashire for a few days visiting family.

Yesterday I went to see my oldest living relative, my cousin who is 86. She served in the Land Army during WW2 and has worked all her life. Now she lives in a sheltered bungalow in Carnforth. She is as cheerful as she has ever been but is in need of daily care to help with the routine tasks of life which she can no longer perform unaided. She has a wonderful carer, whom I met yesterday.

It has brought home to me - if it needed bringing home - just how important domiciliary care can be to a person rendered physically disabled by age and a long working life. It should be a matter of pride to all of us to take the best care we possibly can of the elderly who need it. We really do need to think very hard before cheerfully - or tearfully - cutting such services either now or in the future.