Why British dementia patients are being sent to Thailand

Gabriel Power

 

File photo

 

New research reveals desperate families seeking affordable care overseas for relatives with the disease

 

A growing number of elderly sufferers of dementia are being sent to Thailand by families struggling to meet the cost of care in the UK, according to new research.

 

The Guardian reports that researchers visiting private care homes for dementia patients in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand, have found “eight homes where guests from the UK are living thousands of miles away from their families”.

 

The majority of these patients have been sent to the Southeast Asian nation because “suitable care in their home country was impossible to find or afford”, says the newspaper.

 

Recent figures from the Alzheimer’s Society suggest that there are currently around 850,000 people with dementia in the UK - a number that is projected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040.

 

Full story: https://www.theweek.co.uk/105184/why-british-dementia-patients-are-being-sent-to-thailand

 

-- THE WEEK 2020-01-14

Why the family not take care each other? Nobody care?

Very sad.

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

private care homes for dementia patients in Chiang Mai

send them to die in the air pollution that is chiang mai ? some expats are leaving for that very reason

What visa will they be coming on?

1 minute ago, BobbyL said:

What visa will they be coming on?

An O visa and then extensions based on retirement I would think.  

And for those staying in Chiang mai that hasn't developed dementia yet certainly will, due to the air quality.

Sounds like Thai Dignitas to me????

If they ever cure dementia the NHS costs would reduce dramatically overnight.

Probably 10-20%!

One to one care for people with Alzheimers and dementia is extremely expensive and a huge burden on the health system

dementia is tough to deal with.  I am 63 now and have seen friends I grew up with in the 1970s even had their great aunts living with them, just living skeletons, sitting in the chair all day long.  Such a drain on the family, patience, frustration, financially, emotionally, etc.  My mom is 90 now and the last of her generation.  Two of my great aunts went alzheimer's but luckily there was enough money in that generation to care for them in facilities.  My Mom is the last of her generation of our fairly large greek family.  My grandmother had 10 brothers and children, that generation has all passed.  Their kids, my aunts and uncles are all gone now, except for my Mom.  Her physical health is good, but she is getting very forgetful, but not senile yet.  Luckily one of my sisters is a nurse and has a house and god bless her and her husband for taking my mother in.  I send money every month.  Really not sure how we would handle this financially if Ma had to go to a facility.  Those places literally charge whatever they think you can afford. 

 

  Not being ghoulish, but there is a lot to be said for the slightly older days, when people went out a bit quicker.  Until and unless you see people wither and linger, I don't think you can really understand that.  Watch them sit around all day in the reclining chair, watch redundant news, Dr Phil, Oprah for hours and hours on end.  They lose interest in things, stop cooking for themselves, etc

I'd rather stop living if I was in that state but I would be too far gone to know how to commit suicide. I guess the trick is to prepare whilst still compos mentis and then when you know you're losing it, take action. Light the charcoal brazier in the sealed car, drink the whisky and sit back.

 

To come and stay here they'll need an O visa. 

With an O-A visa they'd need a Thai Insurance that they'd not be able to get.

Still available in the UK?

 

I wonder whatever happened to those Norske OAP that Norway had sent/or was going to send to Hua Hin quite a few years back.

 

Edited January 14, 20206 yr by jayceenik

5 minutes ago, jayceenik said:

To come and stay here they'll need an O visa. 

Still available in the UK?

 

Apparently:

 

"O"	To visit family or friends in Thailand, voluntary job, retirement, medical treatment, to attend judicial process, to work as diplomat's housekeeper

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html

My dad died in November after suffering dementia for a number of years. The slightest change in circumstances was very upsetting for him so can't imagine what shipping somebody half way around the world away from their family would do to a patient.

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

Why the family not take care each other? Nobody care?

Very sad.

You're right, difference in culture.  Thai families will generally look after their elderly parents until the end.  The west....not so much. 

This is why there are so few nursing homes in Thailand.  I'm surprised they mentioned eight in Chiang Mai.  I checked myself a few years ago and found two.  Maybe there are more now, but I'd guess they cater mostly to non-Thais. 

5 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

You're right, difference in culture.  Thai families will generally look after their elderly parents until the end.  The west....not so much.

And after shunning their elderly parents, those same families in the West rush in after their parents' death to fight over money. Nobody wants responsibility but everybody wants reward.

They send them here because they can blend-in with the Thai population and go unnoticed...

4 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

They send them here because they can blend-in with the Thai population and go unnoticed...

Just drop them off in a mall, to wander around with a smart phone in hand ????

59 minutes ago, Sticky Wicket said:

If they ever cure dementia the NHS costs would reduce dramatically overnight.

Probably 10-20%!

One to one care for people with Alzheimers and dementia is extremely expensive and a huge burden on the health system

What's the answer?euthanasia?

My Thai partner's younger brother is in a care home near Bangkok, costs me 24 kBaht per month, she tells me it now has a Farang patient.

My wife be able look after a few she already got hands on experience with me.

????❤????????

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

Why the family not take care each other? Nobody care?

Very sad.

The majority of these patients have been sent to the Southeast Asian nation because “suitable care in their home country was impossible to find or afford”, says the newspaper.

13 minutes ago, kingdong said:

What's the answer?euthanasia?

If only we had that choice, problem with dementing ilnnesses, by the time you that far along, often you would not be deemed to make a rational informed decision, in places where it is supported.

 

What sort of visa are they remaining on or permission to stay,? 

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

Why the family not take care each other? Nobody care?

Very sad.

England not same. Have to working, cannot stay house everyday for take care Yaa.

55 minutes ago, Roy Baht said:

Apparently:

 

"O"	To visit family or friends in Thailand, voluntary job, retirement, medical treatment, to attend judicial process, to work as diplomat's housekeeper

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html

Can only extend Medical Visa 3 month at a time?

How is insurance coming to play in this? I can see Thai authorities using it as whip against the rest of us.

36 minutes ago, Roy Baht said:

And after shunning their elderly parents, those same families in the West rush in after their parents' death to fight over money. Nobody wants responsibility but everybody wants reward.

There are many people who face a big struggle just looking after their kids and working as well. Plus many people are living well into their 80's, when 30 years ago it was their 70's.

My mother died at 75, but I think that by 73'ish it was looking like she wasn't fit or healthy enough to carry on living on her own, and she didn't have dementia. She stopped driving at 70, on our strong advice.

1 hour ago, Sticky Wicket said:

If they ever cure dementia the NHS costs would reduce dramatically overnight.

Probably 10-20%!

One to one care for people with Alzheimers and dementia is extremely expensive and a huge burden on the health system

It does seem that Britain unofficially dumped its underfunded pensioners on Thailand a few decades ago and now wants to repeat the process by patient dumping. Some real villainous people in the UK. 

1 minute ago, zydeco said:

It does seem that Britain unofficially dumped its underfunded pensioners on Thailand a few decades ago and now wants to repeat the process by patient dumping. Some real villainous people in the UK. 

I think the care is being privately funded by the families back in UK or by the funds accumulated by the client themself.

 

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

Why the family not take care each other? Nobody care?

Very sad.

Unfortunately the economic reality of many Western countries compels and dictates that the majority must work. That has created a huge "business" in care for the elderly which also provides employment.

Dementia sufferers are often exceptionally difficult and high risk people. Family  members mostly do  care and as much as possible try to place family in the best facilities at great cost. Sadly that cost is increasing to unsustainable levels.