Elderly care must be basic priority of a civilised society

Those who are unable, for whatever reason, to care for themselves should be protected and sheltered by all those who are in a position to do so.

So it is highly laudable that two of North Yorkshire’s most senior councillors have been taking direct action to try and ensure that is the case.

John Clark and Stuart Parsons set up camp outside County Hall in Northallerton and started a hunger strike, taking only water, in a protest against what they call the “abysmal” treatment of some of the county’s elderly.

The pair believe they have exhausted all other avenues to raise their concerns and, before Cllr Parsons had to withdraw because of illness, insisted they would continue their action for as long as it took to implement sweeping changes in the processes surrounding the care of those who are unable to complain.

Although they believe adult health and social care services are under-funded they say money is not the issue and claim it is the administration that is at fault.

And it is not just the county council that comes in for their criticism – health chiefs and the Care Quality Commission are also being targeted by their protest.

But, impeccable though their motives may be, questions must be raised about the form of protest chosen.

They certainly garnered the publicity they wanted but, beyond that, how can potentially hurting themselves provide succour to the vulnerable that need it?

As democratically-elected councillors, their skills in bringing about change are surely at their best when exercised in forceful fashion through debate and discussion, not when starving in a cold tent by a car-park.

Hunger strikes have had their place in the past – look at the suffragettes or Gandhi – but perhaps this is a little extreme