Caring in other countries/cultures

[MrsAverage]

This forum is part of Carers UK and all the topics are rightly to do with the situation in the UK with our NHS and Social Services etc but I have just read a novel set in India where bigger families living together 'look after' those who need care. I used the '' on pupose because in this particular novel when Granny got rambling and difficult they chained her to the wall. Now I'm not suggesting this is right (it was in a novel!) but it did set me thinking about how other countries/cultures are dealing with increasing caring needs.
Does anyone have any knowledge or stories of anywhere else? North, South, East or West?
Are there any good ideas we could copy? Or routes not to follow?
Just opening this topic for general discussion and gentle horizon staring...

[jenny lucas]

I'm going to be cynical and say that wherever in the world old people are, the people that look after them will be 99% women......

Yes, extended families will 'share the load' and that indeed can be a sanity saver, but in the end, it will be the 'womenfolk' of the family who share out the work of looking after the elderly.

[bowlingbun]

There are a few essential differences. Firstly, families in the UK are smaller, secondly, widespread. So sharing the care between the family is impossible. In my case, I'm one of three, the only one with a disabled child, yet I was the one left to support my two parents. My two brothers lived away, even when they did come home to see mum, they couldn't be bothered to give her a special treat and take her out in the car for a drive, which she liked.
My friend in Australia, a former hospital Matron, was caring for her elderly mum for many years. Mum, also a nurse, lived in a granny annexe. There, the was a guaranteed right to respite a certain number of years, so my friend could still go travelling etc. Of course, that meant Australia had good government run old people's homes too, whereas here, many elderly care homes and cottage hospitals have been closed down.