17 Reflections on our clients by Jennifer Margrave


In a recent consultation carried out by AgeUKSurrey and Healthwatch Surrey, it was mentioned that, when it came to health services, the elderly maintained a stoical approach. Tey didn’t necessarily rush to the doctors’ surgery for every little ache and pain, preferring to use the medication they kept in their own cupboard.


Te point was made that many of the elderly remembered when the NHS was set up and were grateful for the service, knowing what it was like before. In other words, they try not to complain about the services they receive although, having interviewed a sample group across Surrey, the consultation did find some failings – especially with the booking of appointments and the 111 out of hours service.


So, what does this have to do with a law firm?


Firstly, our firm specialises in advising ‘the elderly’ – always remembering that this can cover an age group of approximately forty years as we have some clients who are over 100, and the accepted wisdom is that the term ‘elderly’ can be anyone over sixty. Of course, we have clients younger than this and we’re happy to advise them, but we are trained to appreciate the special requirements of the elderly, whether it be physical or mental frailty.


But we also know that our older clients are stoical, as it states in the consultation, but they are also proud, and don’t like being ‘talked down to’. In other words, they are all as individual as can be. And that is the joy of the work we do, listening to the tales our clients tell of their lives and how they want us to act for them, whether it is preparing powers of attorney for them, wills or assisting when they are moving.


I wonder what the next generation of the elderly will be like; those who lived through the sixties, with protest in the air and rebellion against the accepted wisdom of their parents’ generation, and not having experienced hardship through two World Wars? Should we, as lawyers, be prepared to be challenged and argued with, by a generation who couldn’t imagine living “when they’re sixty-four” or “People talk about my generation, things they do look awful cold, hope I die before I get old.”


Never mind, they’ll bring their own stories but hopefully we can still provide them with legal advice.


© Jennifer Margrave


Jennifer Margrave Solicitors LLP www.jennifermargrave.co.uk


JENNIFER MARGRAVE SOLICITORS LLP


Wills, Trusts & Probate


Lasting Powers of Attorneys Court of Protection matters NHS funding issues Non-mortgage related residential conveyancing


Tel: 01483 562722


The Old Post Office, 130 Epsom Road, Guildford, GU1 2PX


E: enquiries@jennifermargrave.co.uk


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