:00:09. > :00:14.Come this week, with it in Washington for a special edition of
:00:14. > :00:20.Wales Report on the eve of the presidential election. The result
:00:20. > :00:27.will have an impact worldwide and we will have a report on the impact
:00:27. > :00:37.on Wales. We will report from the ancestral home of Mrs Rumney. Stay
:00:37. > :00:42.
:00:42. > :00:49.Welcome to Washington DC for this special edition of Wales Report.
:00:50. > :00:54.The focus on the last few days has been on the focus of the
:00:54. > :01:00.devastation of Superstorm Sandy. But now the race is very close and
:01:00. > :01:07.both candidates are focusing on one thing. The state of the economy.
:01:07. > :01:12.How do you create growth and jobs? Obama and Romney have two different
:01:12. > :01:20.visions. I have been talking to one influential Welshman in Washington
:01:20. > :01:26.and asking him for his view about what is at stake in this campaign.
:01:26. > :01:32.There is such a sense of expectation here in Washington, but
:01:32. > :01:42.why should people care in Wales? is tremendously important, not
:01:42. > :01:47.
:01:47. > :01:53.least because of the uncertainty in Europe and the austerity programme.
:01:53. > :01:58.I think a strong and America with a clear sense of purpose over
:01:58. > :02:03.inconsistent time period has an enormous impact on the world
:02:03. > :02:08.economy and the economy of Wales and Europe in general. You are an
:02:08. > :02:15.avid follower of American politics. Is there Ricky it difference of
:02:15. > :02:20.vision between the two candidates? An enormous difference. Romney is
:02:20. > :02:28.relying in all of his propaganda on the idea that if you cut taxes at
:02:28. > :02:34.the top level you create investment and therefore jobs. He talks about
:02:34. > :02:42.creating 12 million jobs over four years. That will happen on the
:02:42. > :02:47.basis of Obama's achievement in saving the US economy from decline.
:02:47. > :02:50.If Obama is re-elected, there is an opportunity to continue with the
:02:50. > :02:55.kinds of imaginative investment that saved the US motor industry
:02:55. > :02:59.and got the banking sector back on a strong footing, although a lot of
:02:59. > :03:04.people have misgivings about many aspects of what the bankers have
:03:04. > :03:10.done and what they have not been rare -- reprimanded for doing.
:03:10. > :03:17.Obama has a much more ground it message and personal view. I am
:03:17. > :03:21.trying to be objective. You clearly think he is on the right track in
:03:21. > :03:26.terms of economics. I am wondering why it is the race has become so
:03:26. > :03:30.tight and why he is having a big fight on his hands to win a second
:03:30. > :03:37.term? Two things have happened. During the early stages of the
:03:37. > :03:43.campaign, he had a clear lead and then there was an extraordinary
:03:43. > :03:48.debate when Obama seemed to be half asleep. Somebody play and the
:03:48. > :03:56.altitude in Colorado and the fact he is very busy. He didn't rise to
:03:56. > :04:05.the occasion. Romney got a big bounce out of that. That now at
:04:05. > :04:09.ease, I think, declining. What we are seeing is Obama edging ahead.
:04:09. > :04:14.The storm last which created an opportunity for him to be seen
:04:14. > :04:21.working with the Republican Governor of New Jersey. He went on
:04:21. > :04:26.television a few days ago to say how excellent he thought Obama's
:04:26. > :04:30.response to that terrible disaster was. There are many things that
:04:30. > :04:34.resulted from Matt but it helped him recover his position a bit
:04:34. > :04:41.because he could be seen as the chief executive working across
:04:41. > :04:45.political boundaries. That was gary macro talking to me earlier. One of
:04:45. > :04:49.the defining issues of the first term has been the reform of health
:04:49. > :04:53.care. It has prompted a wider debate about the role of the state
:04:53. > :04:59.in providing for the vulnerable and elderly. It is an interesting
:04:59. > :05:05.parallel with a debate back home in Wales about the way we care for the
:05:05. > :05:10.elderly. The Older People's Commissioner considers that older
:05:10. > :05:20.people are being forced into care too soon and one doctor warns of
:05:20. > :05:27.
:05:27. > :05:32.Old age does not come alone. It presents new physical as well as
:05:32. > :05:37.mental challenges, often at a time when people have been a will,
:05:37. > :05:42.sometimes lonely and often vulnerable. Some find themselves
:05:42. > :05:51.forced out of their own home and on a merry-go-round of care homes and
:05:51. > :05:55.hospitals, and able to care for themselves. Well, it is where they
:05:55. > :06:00.could put you but because most hospitals want the birds, don't
:06:00. > :06:08.they? You go there and then they want the beds where so you goes
:06:08. > :06:14.someone else. I have done the circuit. All of them. Derek "Del
:06:14. > :06:20.Boy" Needs, as he had is known, has spent 12 months in and out of
:06:20. > :06:27.hospital and care homes in Swansea while undergoing treatment for
:06:27. > :06:34.advanced died BT's. You have a treat and then it is hard to do so
:06:34. > :06:43.they say, go on a diet. I have tried a few but always went back.
:06:44. > :06:49.I'd lost my leg and my toes on my right leg. During his prolonged
:06:50. > :06:56.stay in hospital, his partner of 23 years with who he had lived died,
:06:56. > :07:01.as did his brother. His life unravelled before his eyes. To make
:07:02. > :07:05.matters worse, he had few relatives still living in Wales to take care
:07:05. > :07:10.of him and the ultimate blow came when he discovered that he could
:07:10. > :07:19.not return to his cottage because it couldn't accommodate his
:07:19. > :07:23.wheelchair. With your rent,... it wasn't for the Red Cross a who
:07:23. > :07:30.found him sheltered accommodation, Derek would almost certainly have
:07:30. > :07:37.ended up in a care home, just another statistic in a long line of
:07:37. > :07:43.victims of the Perfect Storm of unforeseen circumstances. In less
:07:43. > :07:48.than 20 years, it is estimated that there will be more than one million
:07:48. > :07:52.people on in Wales over the age of 65. This will put enormous
:07:52. > :07:57.financial pressure on local authorities, health and social
:07:57. > :08:07.services and, not least, on individuals faced with life-
:08:07. > :08:08.
:08:08. > :08:15.changing decisions. Sarah Rochira is on something of a mission to
:08:15. > :08:18.change that situation and curb the number of elderly going into care
:08:18. > :08:23.homes unnecessarily. She is particularly concerned about the
:08:23. > :08:30.lack of information available to the elderly to enable them to stay
:08:30. > :08:33.in their own homes. It was only a fluke conversation I had with a
:08:33. > :08:43.councillor that I got the information I needed. As luck would
:08:43. > :08:48.have it, I have the stair lift put in and the shower put in. It still
:08:48. > :08:53.took about two years to get it all going, but I am so, so grateful.
:08:53. > :08:57.But without that conversation, I would know nothing at all and would
:08:57. > :09:03.have probably ended up selling the House. One thing that concerns me
:09:03. > :09:07.is the variation in advise people get. It can depend on whom you know
:09:07. > :09:12.and way you live and that is wrong. There is huge variation across
:09:12. > :09:19.Wales. There is good practice, but we need to see it become standard
:09:19. > :09:23.practice. Wales has more elderly people than anywhere else in the UK.
:09:23. > :09:30.An increasingly more and more of the elderly are going into care
:09:30. > :09:34.homes. In some cases, that move can cost them their lives. In the case
:09:34. > :09:42.of old people, we know many psychological traumas are
:09:42. > :09:47.associated with a massive spike in mortality. Dr David Leopold says
:09:47. > :09:51.the system keeps some elderly people in hospital for too long
:09:51. > :09:55.during which time their mental and physical health declines. Perhaps
:09:55. > :10:01.more worrying is the doctor's opinion of the decision to send
:10:01. > :10:06.someone into a care home from hospital is not always made at the
:10:06. > :10:12.patient's bedside. The final decision is rarely made by the
:10:12. > :10:17.doctor. You would be surprised by that, I think. The concept that
:10:17. > :10:25.decisions are made by the bed side, which most of us would expect and
:10:25. > :10:29.wish, is wrong. For many of us, indeed most of us, if we are honest,
:10:29. > :10:34.the prospect of ending up in a care home is something we prefer not to
:10:34. > :10:38.think about. His signals something quite profound and difficult in our
:10:38. > :10:42.lives - the moment we decide to relinquish our independence and
:10:42. > :10:48.place ourselves in the House -- hands of others to care for Russ.
:10:48. > :10:56.For some there is no choice and a good care home provides a kind of
:10:56. > :11:03.sanctuary. I had to think hard. I had carers in, but then I was left
:11:03. > :11:09.alone and I had to cope. I had to walk with a walking stick so I had
:11:10. > :11:19.only one hand. I had steps inside my house as well. I had a chairlift
:11:20. > :11:21.
:11:21. > :11:28.to go upstairs, but I couldn't cope. This home bucks any perception of
:11:28. > :11:33.care homes as dumping grounds for the elderly. Here, there is a
:11:33. > :11:36.deliberate policy to provide a stimulus and to encourage
:11:36. > :11:43.involvement in the kind of activities which may look mundane.
:11:43. > :11:52.In reality, they provide residents with a link back to a life once
:11:52. > :11:58.lead in their own homes. We never called them Welsh cakes. It is a
:11:58. > :12:04.lovely place here. How did you come to be here? I couldn't look after
:12:04. > :12:11.myself in the House and I didn't want to go to my son's to live.
:12:11. > :12:16.Why? I don't want to be a burden. Often it is a selfless Joyce, but
:12:16. > :12:23.no matter how good the care home, the preferred option would be to
:12:24. > :12:29.stay in their own homes, even if it means they take a chance of what
:12:29. > :12:39.remains of their lives. overwhelming number of people would
:12:39. > :12:42.
:12:42. > :12:46.say I would rather take the risk of dying sooner. I'm of a nature MIA...
:12:46. > :12:55.I would rather spend that time in my own surroundings with familiar
:12:55. > :13:01.things. With 23,000 elderly people already in care homes in Wales and
:13:01. > :13:08.growing elderly population, the older people's champion is in no
:13:08. > :13:12.doubt about the challenges now facing all of us. I have been
:13:12. > :13:17.consistently Clear as commissioner that I don't want to be the voice
:13:17. > :13:22.of others. I want to give the voice back to them so they can control
:13:22. > :13:30.their lives and the decisions they need to make. I know the Welsh
:13:30. > :13:34.government shares my aspirations and might challenge to -- his to
:13:34. > :13:42.move that took delivery so that old people have some choice over where
:13:42. > :13:47.they lived. A few days before I left Washington, I put the salient
:13:47. > :13:51.points to mark macro who chairs the social services committee. You know
:13:51. > :13:55.what the problem is according to the older people's Commissioner for
:13:55. > :14:05.Wales, that far too many people end up in care when they do not need to.
:14:05. > :14:05.
:14:05. > :14:10.The Health Committee's inquiry largely bears that out, although it
:14:10. > :14:13.is important to recognise that the number of older people going into
:14:13. > :14:17.residential care in Wales has fallen substantially over the last
:14:17. > :14:22.10 years, and if present policies continue, a reduction of 10% will
:14:22. > :14:25.happen in the next five years. The fall is happening because local
:14:25. > :14:29.authorities are much better than they once were in providing
:14:29. > :14:33.services for people in their own homes. People who previously would
:14:33. > :14:38.have needed residential care can stay for longer in the place they
:14:38. > :14:42.would prefer. One of the points made by the Commissioner is there
:14:42. > :14:46.is, if you like, a breakdown of communication meaning that the
:14:46. > :14:50.patterns of care are not what they should be. How do you see those
:14:50. > :14:55.patterns of communication? There are two points in the process.
:14:55. > :14:57.Early in the process, sometimes when people are waiting by
:14:57. > :15:02.adaptation some things in their homes but can continue to manage in
:15:02. > :15:06.their homes, they are not as good as they should be. But almost all
:15:06. > :15:10.admissions to residential care don't happen in those circumstances,
:15:10. > :15:14.they happen in a crisis. When something that has been holding
:15:14. > :15:19.someone's circumstances together fails, goes wrong, somebody else
:15:19. > :15:25.falls ill, whatever, and in a crisis you get an admission. Our
:15:25. > :15:30.focus and that of the Commission is looking at ways in which we can act
:15:30. > :15:33.differently in a crisis to stop an appropriate care admissions. When
:15:33. > :15:39.you say act differently, give me a practical example of how things
:15:39. > :15:42.might be different? In the past, large numbers of people have ended
:15:42. > :15:46.up in residential care straight from a hospital bed. They have a
:15:46. > :15:50.fall at home, something happens, they go into hospital and people,
:15:50. > :15:55.often for the best of motives, worrying about someone's ability to
:15:55. > :15:59.manage and thinking they need to be looked after and so on, decide
:15:59. > :16:02.residential care is the option. Many local authorities in Wales,
:16:02. > :16:08.Carmarthenshire would be a good example, now insist there is a six
:16:08. > :16:12.week period following people coming out of hospital in which they get
:16:12. > :16:16.what is called we able month, a concerted attempt to try to rebuild
:16:16. > :16:22.people's abilities, putting a new package around them, so they can
:16:22. > :16:26.manage at home. But not every county does that. Not in a
:16:26. > :16:30.consistent way. Almost everybody has something like it, but not
:16:30. > :16:34.everyone does it and the focus and concerted way that the best
:16:34. > :16:38.authorities manage. There is no point asking people to cope at home
:16:38. > :16:42.if they don't have the facilities and help necessary. Would you agree
:16:42. > :16:46.there are certainly plenty of examples of people ending up at
:16:46. > :16:50.home and actually finding they are not given the help they need?
:16:50. > :16:55.residential care home I have visited during Aaron Querrey, I
:16:55. > :16:58.have met people who have said, I am here as a matter of choice. Not
:16:58. > :17:03.because it was the last resort or the worst thing that could have
:17:03. > :17:06.happened to me, I didn't want to be at home. And the only thing I saw
:17:06. > :17:10.was somebody for 50 minutes in the morning and did evening and I spent
:17:10. > :17:15.the whole of the rest of the day worrying what would happen if I
:17:15. > :17:21.fell, I would prefer to be here with people around when I meet them.
:17:21. > :17:27.You are right, being at home in all circumstances is not a panacea for
:17:27. > :17:32.everybody, but where it is done well, most people would prefer it.
:17:32. > :17:35.There is a call for another voice, that the elderly in hospitals come
:17:35. > :17:40.looking for what kind of future they face, we need a voice to
:17:40. > :17:45.represent them which does not exist at the moment? Is that convincing?
:17:45. > :17:49.I'm convinced by parts, not all. I'm absolutely convinced there is a
:17:49. > :17:52.need for a voice of those people who want to speak up for a older
:17:52. > :17:56.people and make sure their views and wishes are heard more
:17:56. > :18:01.powerfully in the system. The system does not allow for that in
:18:01. > :18:06.the way it should. Do we need a new professional, an advocate, to do
:18:06. > :18:11.that? I'm not so sure. There are lots of people in the system,
:18:11. > :18:15.family friends, for example, very keen to have a stronger voice.
:18:15. > :18:18.There are care staff, social workers who place people in care
:18:18. > :18:24.homes, lots of people in the system already who should be speaking up
:18:24. > :18:29.for older people, but the system is not as good as it needs to be in
:18:29. > :18:33.allowing that to happen. A final point, are you confident that the
:18:33. > :18:36.quality of the system and how it supports elderly people is going to
:18:36. > :18:40.improve in years to come, despite the fact there are enormous
:18:40. > :18:43.budgetary constraints and huge financial pressures? There will be
:18:43. > :18:48.a lot of people watching this he will find it difficult to believe
:18:48. > :18:52.we can deliver a better system with far fewer resources. Paying for
:18:52. > :18:57.care in the future is a huge issue. It is an issue that has to be
:18:57. > :19:00.resolved not just at the Welsh level but UK level. We have had
:19:00. > :19:06.lots of evidence in our inquiry about the Dome of report and the
:19:06. > :19:09.urgent need for the UK Government to act on it. Until we sort out the
:19:09. > :19:13.fundamental question about paying for care in the future, anybody who
:19:13. > :19:17.has looked at the system will be anxious about how we will manage.
:19:17. > :19:20.Thank you. That was Mark Drakeford talking to
:19:20. > :19:24.me a few days ago. We have already heard from one
:19:24. > :19:30.Welsh voice in America, but I have been to a corner of the states
:19:30. > :19:33.where Welsh voices are far more familiar. The state of Ohio is one
:19:33. > :19:37.of the swing states in this election, every vote will count,
:19:37. > :19:42.including in the village of Oak Hill, a village settled by Welsh
:19:42. > :19:45.people in the first half of the 19th century. I have been to talk
:19:46. > :19:51.to one of the leading lights in the Welsh community there.
:19:51. > :19:57.Elizabeth, you've been here since 1974, and this is the very southern
:19:57. > :20:06.tip for most of Ohio. That's right. Oak Hill. What is your link with
:20:06. > :20:13.Oak Hill? I had relatives that emigrated here in the 1800s. Are my
:20:13. > :20:22.grandmother's side of the family. How many of them? There were two
:20:22. > :20:27.branches of the family, the Morgans and Daviess. Here we have pretty
:20:27. > :20:32.spectacular proof of Welsh heritage in America, what do you call it?
:20:33. > :20:42.The Welsh American Heritage Museum. It is the only one in the States?
:20:43. > :20:48.
:20:48. > :20:54.It is remarkable. It is like stepping back 200 years. Yes.
:20:54. > :21:00.take a seat. From 1840, then in 1971 it is converted into a
:21:00. > :21:07.heritage museum? In between times, the Baptist denomination took over
:21:07. > :21:12.the church and the Congregational church closed. I think they kept it
:21:12. > :21:17.going until the late 1960s. And the church was going to be sold. So a
:21:17. > :21:22.group of interested people who wanted to prove that -- to preserve
:21:22. > :21:26.the Welshness got together and bought the Church in 1971. It is
:21:26. > :21:31.lovely, and there is nothing quite like it anywhere, as far as I am
:21:31. > :21:36.aware. You have amassed a lot of treasures? Yes. How much work was
:21:36. > :21:46.that? We asked people to donate things of Welsh interest to the
:21:46. > :21:48.
:21:48. > :21:52.museum. Sometimes when people pass What it for you is the big value of
:21:52. > :21:58.this place? What does it contribute? It reminds everybody
:21:58. > :22:03.off the Welsh heritage and the beginnings of the people who worked
:22:03. > :22:06.hard when they came to Oak Hill. Most came because they were
:22:06. > :22:11.escaping or fleeing terrible hardship? Yes. But they found
:22:11. > :22:17.pretty tough conditions here? The first generation worked very
:22:17. > :22:23.hard. It was their children who reaped the benefits. What does the
:22:23. > :22:29.sense of Welshness in Oakland today? -- what is the sense of? Is
:22:29. > :22:33.its strong? Not as strong as when I first came here. When I came it was
:22:33. > :22:39.at its peak at that time. The younger people don't have much
:22:39. > :22:44.interest, it is very hard to attract them to many Welsh events
:22:44. > :22:50.or come to the Museum. Do you miss Wells after 28 years? Yes, over the
:22:50. > :22:54.years I have made frequent trips back home, twice a year. Do you
:22:54. > :23:01.think you would ever go back to settle in Wales at any stage, or is
:23:01. > :23:11.this home? This is home now. My children and grandchildren are here.
:23:11. > :23:14.
:23:14. > :23:19.We're over here now. SPEAKS IN WELSH. 24 speaking to us. -- thank
:23:19. > :23:23.you for speaking to us. The Welsh Heritage Museum in Oak
:23:23. > :23:27.Hill, Ohio. There is a rich Welsh heritage and lots of the USA.
:23:27. > :23:34.Indeed, there is an unexpected Welsh flavour to the presidential
:23:34. > :23:38.campaign, given the ancestral story of Mrs Romney, whose family has
:23:38. > :23:48.links with Nantyffyllon. We sent the former Plaid Cymru MP Adam
:23:48. > :23:50.
:23:50. > :23:53.Price, who has just been studying It is hard to avoid the razzmatazz
:23:53. > :24:00.of an American presidential election. Even at home here in
:24:00. > :24:07.Wales. Ann Romney's father was born in the street behind me. Proud of
:24:07. > :24:12.the Welsh working classes, she even visited the area and burned those
:24:12. > :24:19.famous Welsh cakes live on Good Morning America. It was to prove
:24:19. > :24:23.her Anglo credentials, quipped one commentator! Maybe he was thinking
:24:23. > :24:27.of Alfred the Great?! This campaign has been the longest and certainly
:24:28. > :24:31.most expensive in history. It has also been the most disappointing.
:24:31. > :24:35.Both parties ended up with a candidate that did not fire up the
:24:35. > :24:40.debates, the Democrats with a president who never really
:24:40. > :24:44.delivered on a promise of hope and change. And the Republicans with a
:24:44. > :24:53.moderate bat tilted right to win the nomination, then tilted right
:24:53. > :24:57.back again to try to win the White Who'd have thought that this most
:24:57. > :25:02.boring of campaigns would have ended in such a nail-biting finish?
:25:02. > :25:08.This is the closest presidential race involving an incumbent since
:25:08. > :25:12.1916. The Democrat Woodrow Wilson won that time around. Within a year,
:25:12. > :25:15.the United States had entered the First World War, decisively sipping
:25:15. > :25:19.their -- tipping the balance in favour of the Allies.
:25:19. > :25:24.No one is suggesting there is as much at stake for us this time
:25:24. > :25:30.around, but the reverberations will still be felt here in streets like
:25:30. > :25:37.this. Europe may not be at war, but it faces a severe economic crisis.
:25:37. > :25:42.President Obama is the last of the Keynesians in a world addicted to
:25:42. > :25:47.austerity. Will a Romney victory condemn us to economic oblivion?
:25:47. > :25:52.That matters in Wales. Of the 40 billion also manufactured goods
:25:52. > :25:56.that UK exports to North America every year, about 4 billion are
:25:56. > :26:01.made here in Wales. And it will be the economy that decides the
:26:02. > :26:07.election for the average American voter. One by one, states that
:26:07. > :26:10.Obama won in 2008 are slipping beyond his reach, leaving the rust
:26:11. > :26:18.belt of struggling manufacturing areas as the real battleground in
:26:18. > :26:22.this election. It sometimes feels as if the candidates are running
:26:22. > :26:27.not for the presidency of the United States but for the
:26:27. > :26:31.governorship of Ohio, a state with strong Welsh connections. It may
:26:31. > :26:37.even be that a few thousand Welsh American boats, descendants of
:26:37. > :26:45.people from valleys like this, may end up determining the fate of
:26:45. > :26:49.Barack Obama. One thing is for certain, this
:26:50. > :26:56.election is too close to call. I will make one prediction, though -
:26:56. > :27:01.whoever wins, they will be loathed by the other side but unloved by
:27:01. > :27:07.their own. This inauguration, when it comes in January, always on a
:27:07. > :27:12.cold winter's day, will be just a bit colder this day. And in the age
:27:12. > :27:16.of antipathy not just of the President but of politics itself.
:27:16. > :27:20.A Welsh take on the presidential contest. They will be counting the
:27:21. > :27:27.votes on Tuesday night and the result could affect us all. A quick
:27:27. > :27:29.reminder of the contact details, you can e-mail us at