Dr Lucy Pollock: Getting Older (For People Who Don't Want To Talk About It)

Somerset-based consultant Dr Lucy Pollock has specialised in caring for the elderly and frail for 20 years. She talks to bestselling author Kate Mosse (An Extra Pair of Hands: A Story of Caring, Ageing and Everyday Acts) about how we can give those we love, and eventually ourselves, long lives that are as happy and healthy as possible.

The Book About Getting Older (for people who don’t want to talk about it) is a warm and wise guide helping provide answers to questions many of us struggle with:

· How do we ask whether it’s worth taking seven different medicines?
· Is it normal to find you’re falling out of love with someone, as they disappear into dementia?
· Should Dad be driving, and if not, who can stop him?
· What are the secrets of the best care homes?
· When does fierce independence become bad behaviour?
· How do you navigate near-impossible discussions around resuscitation and intensity of treatments?
· Who decides what happens when we become ill?

A long life should be embraced and celebrated, but it’s not all easy. Yet even the most challenging situation can be helped by the right conversation.