Care home care plan says months to live

[Vapeyvapevape]

We have just been sent a relatives care plan and were told it's just for us to update his favourite dinners etc . On the last page it says that he is code green with months to live.
This has come as a complete shock as end of life hasn't been discussed, he is 62 and has a traumatic brain injury.
Can this be correct ?

That sounds incredibly difficult and must have come as a shock. I’d suggest calling the care home and discussing it with them. I have an elderly relative in a care home who has been on end of life care now since July 2021, at one point we were summoned to say our goodbyes, but thankfully, she’s still with us. I think these things aren’t so easy to determine, although I’ve never seen a colour coding scheme on the care plans I’ve been sent. I’m not sure if this is something that’s usually shared with families, I’d like to think they would discuss it with you first though.

Thank you, we're calling them tomorrow. We have a dnr in place but his life expectancy has never been discussed, it's been really upsetting to see 'unstable/advanced disease months prognosis' written down.

We don't know if the 'advanced disease' refers to the brain damage or something else.

If it was me in that situation then I would hope that I would be allowed to pass away with dignity - and the sooner the better.

What abled bodied person wants to continue life long term if they are no longer able to be independent

Don't panic.

care home care plans can be very tick boxy, the wrong box might have been ticked.

Has anyone discussed the four course drugs with you or mentioned something called fast track continuing healthcare?

That should be the four core drugs

Theres only three what someone could be

RED - Days

AMBER - Weeks

GREEN - Months

There isnt anything ‘above’ Green, to state years for example
So hopefully thats why

Just wondering if that's actually their 'best' category because you mention 'code green' - ie green is months to years to live, whereas amber might be weeks to live and red only days- just a thought.

Cross posted!

It's been horrendous and I'm sure he wouldn't want to live like this but unfortunately there's no other choice.
It was just a shock (especially for my dd who was sent the form ) to see the care plan saying he has months to live when this has never been mentioned. We would rather he hadn't survived tbh and only wish him a peaceful passing when the time comes.

No they haven't

Ah that might be it , thank you.
Just such a sad situation, obviously we don't want him to die but we don't want him to continue in the state he's in either.

The red, amber, green coding system is standard out in the community and care home settings. It is from the Gold Standards Framework (GSF). Lots of further info online. I can see why this has been a shock to you, and I would to ask to discuss further with the home.

I fully understand OP. It’s tragic, my relative is bed bound, unable to move/shift position/turn over without help. Doubly incontinent, liquid food only and frequent bed sores. She’s schizophrenic and deaf, so spends her days just staring into space. I cannot fault the wonderful care she receives, but it’s no life at all. If it’s any consolation, we’ve had a full discussion about end of life medication which it sounds like you haven’t yet. I hope they can reassure you in the morning.

I'm sorry this was presented to the family in this way.
Once someone is in the situation they need a care home I think the average life expectancy is under 2 years. So by the law of averages their "best" category is going to be counted in months not years.

Thank you, my dd is going to call the care home tomorrow, she's really upset by this because apart from the brain injury, there's no other life threatening disease and whilst I have tried to gently explain to her that the brain injury itself has shortened his life expectancy , I think she expects him to live at least another 10 years or so.

I'm so sorry, life is so cruel sometimes xx

horrendous situation for all - I agree that communication has been appalling, as is far too often the case.

Sincere thoughts with you coping with this

I was fascinated to read about my alleged resistance to the ‘fact’ that I would very shortly die like my sister, and was simply failing to acknowledge it.

This was a dual adult services (direct payments), & NHS continuing care set of notes.

Carried on to write about that care provided now was to be regarded as end of life care pathway, and the importance of getting a DNR in place (Humm).

If my loved ones had been sent a copy of this, it would have been a hideous shock.

I had been recently diagnosed with a genetic condition which had indeed killed my sister, & dad, however the specialist consultants were clear that with close surveillance and new surgical approaches, life expectancy was now going up by decades (2-3 decades low av)…

It did give me a shock to read though. However, it made me smile as then my friend and advocate wrote back on my behalf to say that she was glad that my borough took end of life care seriously, but it seemed a little extreme to cater for long enough for the service user/ client to theoretically give birth and parent a baby through to voting age!

Written 8 yrs ago now actually. Still alive though a bit wobblier now…

PS I know that isn’t your situation, I thought it might make you smile a bit anyway…

It’s appalling that it was sent through to you like that without being discussed with you first, I’m so sorry. That alone warrants a discussion to make them change their ways!

Glad to see you're still here @WellThisIsShit 😊
Apart from this incident, the care home has been really good , it's not very nice to see in black and white though. Hopefully it's as a pp said, they only have 3 choices and this is the only one that 'fits' .

OP, in medical terms it is almost impossible
to predict a persons life expectancy. With a younger person such as your relative, the likelihood is that he will unfortunately have a shorter life span now due to the disability and effects that he has been left with from the brain injury.

He could develop chest infections for example, and eventually he will fail to respond to the antibiotics.

But with good care he could live for years rather than months, dependant on his needs and health status now. Hope this helps.

We've just spoken to the care home and they've made a mistake, he should be blue . We know his life expectancy has been shortened but didn't think he had only months left !

We were told that (if you survived it initially) a severe brain-injury would reduce life-expectancy by 10 years.

Disturbing for us- and I've not mentioned it to my husband whose injury it was - but statistical of course. Brain-injury recovery follows some patterns but varies quite a bit.

We are on the other side of a number of apparently hopeless situations and some dire preditions.

It is difficult to predict accurately for an individual until you are close enough to see Death standing there with the scythe.