elderly relative putting herself at risk...

Savvy_Sue

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

ClootiesMum - I have just had her door lock changed, as although people had spare keys, she insisted on leaving her key in the lock, which meant no-one could gain access, and the police had to break in... I have had her old lock replaced with a lock that locks with a knob on the inside and has no key hole inside so she cannot do this!

Tell me about it! Although we do finally seem to have persuaded Mum that using a thin chain as the only 'lock' on her outside door and leaving the key in the lock of the inside door (which has a large glass panel just about the door handle) gives her about as much security as leaving the keys outside in the lock. :rotfl:

And of course, when she went out she was leaving the outer door entirely unlocked. Will you be impressed if I tell you that the lock on the inner door was one of those old-fashioned keys you usually buy off the peg at the locksmiths? I think my boys could have picked it in 5 minutes, and THEY'RE not into burglary! Oh, and there was a cat flap in the door too. And the key was kept in the drawer in the unit between the two doors ...

ClootiesMum

have just had her door lock changed, as although people had spare keys, she insisted on leaving her key in the lock, which meant no-one could gain access, and the police had to break in...

They're a challenge, aren't they. You just find a resolution to one problem and then they have another one needing solved.......:p
They can certainly keep you on your toes.....

Mum was eventually diagnosed by a neurologist after a couple of brainscans but I don't think this is the way you need to go forward with your relative - I still think having the GP refer and test her might "encourage" a diagnosis which would then help get the social services involved.

esseesee

I second the idea of another poster to write to your MP listing the problems you have had with social services etc.

This was the only thing that was any help to me at all when, looking after my mum who couldn't be left for longer than an hour or so, I was at a loss as to how to do the weekly shop. SS organised for homehelp to come in at 9.30am for half an hour; this meant I could leave home at 8.30am, drive to the local town, be in the supermarket just before 9am, do the shopping, get anything else necessary in town and be back home for 10.30 - 11am.

Fine except for the times when the homehelp DIDN'T arrive, and I came back to find mum crying on the floor ... all I asked SS for was a phone call to tell me that the homehelp was NOT coming, so I could reorganise my week. I was openly laughed at for this request.

However a letter to my MP detailing events led to a positive response from SS within 72 hours.

It depends on whether you have a good constituency MP, though. Ours was marvellous. I should have contacted him years earlier.

I do still - over 20 years later - refer to social services as antisocial dis-services, and sadly hear, almost daily, similar stories of their irresponsible, dismissive attitudes.

HellsGranny

To move this slightly sideways-- Does the hospital/GP surgery have a PALS representative? This is a Patient liason scheme, which may help ensure fair play if the doctor/hospital is giving you the run-around. I'm not sure if Social Services would be covered by them.

Alternately, try contacting your MP. With a General Election in the offing, they are all looking for brownie points to get your votes, so he might be able to put pressure on where needed.

Worth a try.

Cheers, HG

Savvy_Sue

HellsGranny wrote: »

To move this slightly sideways-- Does the hospital/GP surgery have a PALS representative? This is a Patient liason scheme, which may help ensure fair play if the doctor/hospital is giving you the run-around. I'm not sure if Social Services would be covered by them.

The hospital will have, I think the GP surgery has something different, probably via the local PCT, and SS will be different again ...