We're topping up the tan, not playing bingo in a nursing home: Pensioners needing some sun or round-the-clock care flock to luxury £1,500-a-month retirement resorts in Thailand - which are nearly three times cheaper than the UKBritish pensioners needing round-the-clock care and those wanting a bit of extra sun are flocking to luxurious retirement resorts in Thailand where the costs are nearly three times less than in the UK.
Facilities such as Care Resort Chiang Mai offer independent living, close care and dementia care alongside meals and activities.
Brits who have made the near 6,000-mile trip to South Asia say it is a far cry from playing bingo in a stuffy nursing home and describe their move to a destination reminiscent of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as 'the best we've made'.
In Thailand, where the government has already listed 30 facilities it says meet its quality standards, retirees only need to pay £1,500 for all monthly costs, including 24-hour care.
By contrast, it costs on average £800 a week for a place in a care home back in Britain, or £1,078 for a nursing home - meaning families face shelling out north of £4,000 every month.
Former hospital manager Peter Mallard, 75, and his wife Rita, 81, are among those living it up having moved from their former home in Eastbourne, east Sussex.
People have the feeling, certainly as you get older, that you're going to be stuck in a room in a lounge playing bingo once a week … whereas you just can't compare [to Thailand],' Mr Mallard told The Telegraph.
His wife added: 'Friends thought we were mad, but it's the best move we've made.'
Director of Care Resort Chiang Mai, Peter Brown, chose to open the resort after seeing his mother's experience in the UK.
He says there are 47 staff for 33 guests - in contrast to what he claims is one for every ten patients in Britain.
'My mother had a nurse or carer visit once a week in the UK. Everything else is conducted by talking over the phone on a loudspeaker in a room asking her how she is,' he told Express.co.uk last year.
Mr Brown continued: 'If you want your parents or grandparents to have a high level of care and a high level of happiness in the rest of their life, Thailand is an option.'
One Cornwall teacher - who did not want his name being used - told the broadsheet: 'Obviously the price is a huge thing. Dad owns a nice home in the UK; a four-bed bungalow that's got a reasonable value.
'He doesn't have a huge amount of savings and we're in that middle sector that wouldn't be able to gain any benefits or costs towards any care, or a very limited amount, so if he went into a UK care home then basically the cost of it would eat through the price of the house.
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