panicking again

markymark10_2

Hi Soolin

I cant tell you how much I feel for you & your poor dad, as you know i'm currently going through similar problem with my mum & boy is it hard work trying to get those who are supposed to be working in the care!!! sector to do what essentially they are there for.

For what its worth my advice would be as follows.

Dont move your dad from the hospital until they have carried an assessment for NHS continuing care, it seems to me that with his medical & care needs he should at least be eligible for referral to the trust for this. I well understand that you want the best for your dad & he doesnt want to be in hospital but its important to look at the bigger picture. You need to keep your health & sanity in order to be able to care for him & also if he goes back to the home too early & has further problems then this could be even more detremental to his well being.

Make sure that social services are providing the service that they are there for & if they arent dont be afraid to make a complaint if they are not. I take it that your dad is self funding so its much more difficult to get them to actually do anything but they still have a duty of care to him & also to you as a carer, it also doesnt hurt to mention to them that or the NHS that you are thinking of getting your MP involved. I was in the same position with mum until the social services discovered that they would be paying for her first 3 months care due to lack of capital, they are now backing my appeal against the care assessment & we have a team meeting with the hospital tomorrow.

Get the home he is currently in to come out & reassess dads needs if they are prepared to do this, if not see if you can get a nursing home in the area to come out & assess his needs, if they feel that his needs mean that he must be in a nursing place & not purely residential then their report will add weight to any attempt from the NHS to claim that he doesnt need this.

Finally a personal message to you, I know what you are going through, you love your dad & just want the best for him & the temptation to take him away from all the hassle & just look after his needs will always be there but the state should be there to help support you as well as him. You need to remain fit & well to do the best for your dad & the health & social services have a duty to help & support him & you, sadly it seems that currently money seems to be the prime motivator over the care of individuals in both these services so you will have to fight to get the care he needs but dont give up & dont forget to look after yourself.

saving-grace

soolin wrote: »

Thank you.

The nursing homes locally tend to be in the region of £950 a week whereas at the moment he only pays £525 and am I right in thinking that there is a limit to the nursing care element that the NHS actually pay?

I understand its £101 per week that you get to cover nursing care. (have just been re-reading your thread)

Biggles

Originally Posted by soolin
am I right in thinking that there is a limit to the nursing care element that the NHS actually pay?

saving-grace wrote: »

I understand its £101 per week that you get to cover nursing care.

That's correct; though it's not a limit as such, it's a flat-rate payment.

EdInvestor

There are two things here:

1.NHS "continuing care" - the NHS pays the entire bill

2.NHS contribution where person needs some nursing but the rest is personal care paid by you: 101 quid a week.

You want to go for the 100% continuing care, there have been court cases about this relating to demntia patients but the NHS is still trying to weasel out of its responsibilities.

smartarse

No one has added anything for a week. Is the situation any better for you & your Dad now? If not, post something. I won't be able to look at this again until sunday. You may need to check out a Google on "The Responsible Commissioner". Send a PM if you want.

smartarse

Nice simplification! Important subject; happy to talk.

soolin

Sorry i got sidetracked getting equipment for dad and forgot to update this.

I finaly got dad back to the care home a few days ago, although he is really on last notice I think because he does require a great deal of care. The hospital just left dad in a bed with a catheter and everythime I asked them about getting him out and trying him with walking or on the commode they always had an excuse why they couldn't. His notes categorised him as bed ridden which is why the home wouldn't accept him back at first. However I spoke to the discharge team in the hospital (on the advice of people here) and they are actually funded by SS so they were obviously eager to get dad out to free the bed. They therefore put pressure on the hospital, along with the home to get dad mobile and he was given a zimmer frame which he can just about shuffle along with. Once he had that the home accepted him back.

To me this highlights the care that is routinely given to older people once they get into a hospital situation..they saw dad as old and bedridden and they basically set out to fulfil that prophesy. The care home however see dad as someone with the ability to take some care of himself and to get some enjoyment out of life, so they cajole him to walk, they cajole him to join in with some of the sing songs etc. Dad went from a little old man in a bed, to a man that has a life with which he appears to be contented.

I put the care annuity on hold as dad's notes now say he has renal problems and I think that might reduce the premium costs, and have another appointment with the IFA in 2 weeks time to restart the process.

Thank you everyone for your help, either on the thread or by PM. It is good to know that when things like this happen there are others that understand and can help with the sytems that are imposed on us.

EdInvestor

margaretclare wrote: »

I decided long ago that, in order to survive at all in hospital and not have a miserable time, you need to be alert, aware, assertive, able to ask for what you want and to insist if you don't get it.

....and get out as fast as possible.

Given that margaret is a retired NHS nurse who knows of what she speaks, her comments are quite scary and tend to confirm one's worst fears.

monkeyspanner

Soolin----Apologies I haven't read the whole thread in detail. Are you still in with a chance of getting continuing care for your dad? Was just wondering as I see you are looking at an anuity, would this still be appropriate if CC is a possibility?

Margaret---What was that about Medical people being the worst patients? Can't blame you. Are the state of the hospitals down to staff training or just generally c*** education and attitudes?

EdInvestor

It seems pretty obvious that sloughflint and margaret have come to exactly the same conclusions about how to get things done properly in hospital, basically speak up and deal with the senior staff.


This actually sounds a lot less scary, in fact