Click here to fill out the Times care homes petition

I want an anxiety-free future — for everyone. This can be tricky because as we get older we are inclined to find the world difficult to deal with, and that makes us anxious. But we can think of many changes that would relieve us of specific fears. Here are some of the things we would like to rely on:

Government commitment, both local and central

We want to know that considerations of accommodation and care are taking a high priority in government strategy. We want local government planning to include provision for the future needs of older people in their area. We don’t want the plans being made to be imposed from above, but to take our views into consideration. Possible? It can be, because the old have political clout if they only chose to use it. A third of the population are now over 50 and they are the most likely people to vote. Consistent lobbying of MPs and local councillors about new rules governing home-care provision will make our futures better.

Making sure the price is right for care

How do you find a care home for a loved one? Here is some advice on selecting the best, plus a petition to improve standards

• Sign our care homes petition and read the manifesto for change

• Times care homes survey

Care homes: a system in crisis

Care homes will face a new complaints system and tougher inspections. The Times launches a three-part series on the issue

• Who cares?

• Times care homes survey

• Middle-classes to get aid to find suitable care homes for loved ones

Care homes: I don't want to suffer like my husband

Reader Anna Young shares extracts from her journal and offers a moving account of her husband's life in a care home

• Care homes: a system in crisis

• Times care homes survey

Take part in the Times care homes survey

Make your voice heard with our online poll

• Sign our care homes petition and read the manifesto for change

Multimedia

• Times care home petition

Financial security

Probably the thing we worry about most is not having enough money to fund care at the level we would like. So we want minimum care standards at the cheaper end of provision to be raised. For example, there is no excuse for the stench of urine to persist in the corridors of care homes. We want a shake up in the patterns of financing care with the government making clear what we, after a lifetime paying taxes and insurance stamps, are entitled to. We want government to pressure energy companies to give financial concessions to the old; local authorities to consider council tax concessions. We want to stay well and fit enough for longer so that we can contribute to the economy, taking part-time jobs, or even helping as carers ourselves.

Our own homes

We don’t want to have to sell unless and until we have to. This means making plans well ahead of such an eventuality. Whenever it happens it is likely to be a traumatic event, so we need help in planning well ahead. Families need to be brought in to ease the transition, and someone sympathetic who will help to make the move less distressing.

An increased range of housing choices

We would like to know the options that exist and are being planned. Increasingly there are varied options: there are retirement villages with mixed accommodation, some flats and bungalows privately owned, some rented. There are council-run, or privately run residential homes and care homes all with different degrees of provision. What we look for is safety, warmth and often company. We would like to be able to choose between a community consisting largely of our own age group, or to remain part of the broader community, with noisy children, dogs, pubs and all the delights and irritations of normal living.

Information

We want to be included in all plans and possibilities. There are plenty of charities and grant-giving bodies that can, and do, offer services and help to older people. It’s just that we don’t know that they are there and how to reach them. Please let us have a regularly updated directory of all that is available.

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