The £9 billion question: How to care for the UK’s minority ethnic elderly?

The UK is getting older. More of us are living into our seventies and eighties and this trend is projected to continue throughout the twenty-first century.  One consequence will be a substantial increase in the market for long term care.  But are care homes ready for the opportunities of the future?  In one important respect a wake up call is needed.  The UK’s population is not just getting older; it’s also becoming increasingly ethnically diverse. But the reputation of care homes among ethnic minorities is so poor that a market worth £9 billion by 2051 could go begging. 

A study by Linstock Communications and research partner Stimulating World reveals that UK care homes need to improve their understanding of, and reputation amongst, Britain’s minority ethnic communities. We staged focus groups with people of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian (Hindu) and Black Caribbean ethnicity, who were all considering long term care options for elderly relatives.

We found that in many respects a community’s attitudes to care in old age can be determined by the length of time they have spent in the UK. So people in the Caribbean community, for example, are more open to the idea of paid for care and want to take control of personalised care budgets, whereas more recent arrivals, such as some from the Bangladeshi community, are more reticent and have less desire to control their own finances for care. We also uncovered a stigma amongst communities of South Asian ethnicity (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi), where putting older members of the family into care is seen as a dereliction of duty.

Furthermore, across the board the minority ethnic communities we spoke to believe that care homes won’t cater to their specific cultural, dietary or religious needs. Some fear that regular prayer won’t be possible or that care staff won’t speak the same language as the people in their care.

The truth is that there is good practice out there. Some care homes are specifically targeting this market and others have good practices in place to support people from minority communities, but their measures are not well understood. The UK care industry clearly needs to understand and tackle some widely held opinions if it wants to serve an increasingly diverse community. Care homes need to stop being a last resort and start presenting themselves as a positive choice.

To see the full research summary by Linstock and Stimulating World please click here.

Tom Yazdi, Linstock Consultant (tom@linstockcommunications.com)

http://www.linstockcommunications.com