I HAVE been asked to write by a friend of mine.

For most of my adult life I have been involved in care - either as a foster mum, a carer for my late mum and first husband, caring in a nursing home, as home help/carer and keeping an eye out for elderly neighbours - all of which has been a rewarding pleasure.

Many pensioners (of which I am now one) will go days with little or no social contact. I even make GP appointments to speak to someone. Sad. Loneliness is a killer and isolation leads to dementia. Fact.

We are told ‘Save for your old age’. Get stung in your old age, more like. A friend has now been told she must pay £58 a day to attend the Elms Day Centre.

Another dear friend struggles to find the £44 per day for help with care. Both have cancelled, even with savings they cannot afford this long term. I get angry with carers who steal from the elderly.

What has this wretched government done with the constant cuts in the social care budget?

I have always joked ‘when I get old shoot me’. Many of these ‘stung’ pensioners’ must feel this too.

At present, except for bathing and showering, I can care for myself. With my trusty ‘battle wagon’ I can, albeit a bit painfully or wobbly, get out and socialise. Many pensioners cannot do this.

To charge such huge amounts to attend day centres is morally wrong and cruel. I’m thinking of giving my ‘care budget’ to my funeral director now and saying ‘keep the change’.

I shudder to think what my care will cost when I’m on my own. Impossible to imagine, because more will die due to lack of care and socialisation.

Pensioners don’t expect it all for free but they do expect and should get some degree of fairness for doing as they are told and saving for their old age.

D HOLLOWAY, Minster Lovell