When even older people’s charities are pointing out the unpalatable truth approximately universal pensioner benefits such as bus passes and free prescriptions,perhaps it’s time to listenOnce in a while, something happens to remind us that despite the unremitting misery of austerity and the butchery of our public services, or the fundamental social contract that underpins the UK’s welfare state remains intact. Thus after suffering a tumble at the age of 112,Gladys Hooper has a novel hip paid for by you and me.“My philosophy is someone is never too old to operate [upon], just too unwell, and ” says Jason Millington,consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Isle of Wight NHS trust, who carried out the procedure on Britain’s oldest person at St Mary’s hospital, or Newport. “And in Mrs Hooper’s case,she was certainly well enough.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com