Will Adult Social think its concerning if I don't have a TV set?

[AlertMentor]

Would Adult Social Care be concerned if I had no TV? I am not on their radar yet but I am now in my 60s, do have some physical disability and very little family support so I have a reasonable expectation that if I ended up ill and in hospital that they might end up being involved in a care package or similar. I have a TV now but do not watch it much and everytime the licence is due for renewal I wonder about getting rid of the TV altogether. I only ever watch freeview listings. I do listen to the radio and have a smartphone so not exactly cut off from the world. I do not have a computer, I use one at the library if absolutely necessary. Am I at risk of being considered an oddball and attract unnecessary attention?

Not having a tv as a child growing up is often one marker of deprivation for adults of certain generations. That is totally different to today. I’m 45 and while we technically have 2 tvs in our house, except for the annual Home Alone viewing at Christmas with dc, I cannot tell you a time in the past few years when I have sat down and watched anything on it. I also haven’t had a tv licence in about a decade. They can shove that.

No they wouldn’t, unless “briefings” such as those abominations on our screens in 2020 (which I refused to watch on principle) become compulsory viewing.

I also haven’t had a tv licence in about a decade. They can shove that

Get your fireproof suit on and await the usual deluge of MN'ers accusing you of being a thief, a scumbag, having the moral conscience of Adolf Hitler etc etc

Thats a memory assessment which is different to a capacity assessment...

It’s actually incredibly difficult for o get adult social care involved with older people even when they and their families desperately want and need help.

they aren’t out looking for people to scoop up into their net.

if you ever need them you will have to fight tooth and nail to get them. They won’t care whether you have a tv or not.

I am a adults social worker and it wouldn't concern me if you didn't have a tv at all.

I have attended memory tests with some of the people I have worked with and I was thinking crikey I would so fail this when they ask you to remember some words 😁

You are really over thinking this OP, my mum is in her 70's - no tv - and lives perfectly independently.

A lot of people watch it on iPads and suchlike nowadays so it's perfectly normal not to have a telly

I think it wouldn't be considered unusual not to have a telly these days - plenty of people do all their watching on another device.

To send you home independently they would want to know-
can you use a toilet
manage stairs
get in and out of bed and a chair
bath or shower
prepare food and drinks

They will not worry about how you entertain yourself.!!
Their preference will be to get you home wherever possible as it’s the cheapest option. They will offer adaptations/ support if needed

I don't mean to be rude but nobody is coming and nobody cares. You will have to fight and fight and fight to get any help at all, when you really need it, when you are desperate.

There is simply no such thing as a social care system that will force care upon you. You will have to beg. You will have to sell everything you own. And you will still get nothing like what you need.

This is true for everyone in this country except the very rich. There is simply no such thing as what you are imagining. Adult social care will fight in court to deny adults help with basic toileting. They don't just not care about your telly - there's nobody there TO not care about your telly. These systems don't exist. It's all gone decades ago.

I would disagree with nobody cares, I really care and I have a duty under the care act to meet unmet needs. Please don't scare people into nit accessing social care, people who have over the threshold will have to pay for their care and it is tough with all the cut backs but doesnt mean that nobody cares who works within the system.

Thank you. It is very reassuring to hear from someone in your profession.

When I accompanied my mum she couldn't remember what month it was despite the fact it was 2 weeks after Christmas. She also could not remember which floor of the building we were on despite going up in the lift to the first floor of a 2 storey building.But because she worked in retail using pre decimal currency and all calculation was mental arithmetic. she could easily do all the sums questions without taking a breath. The GP decided there was no serious issue at that time. It took us another 8 months to get a fuller and more accurate assessment

I agree they are not reliable at all, sorry to hear it took months for you to be taken seriously must have been frustrating.

I'm not scaring anyone into not accessing social care. I'm also not scaring them into not accessing Father Christmas, eighteen unicorns pulling a sledge filled with rainbows, or Mary Poppins. It actually doesn't matter what I say anyway, as the idea of the OP being taken away (where?) for not having a telly is based on an idea of a system that absolutely does not exist.

I was a family carer for 22 years and ran a complex care package. I do know what I am talking about. And I also 100% knew that someone that worked in this failed system would take umbrage, because you always do. And that's ok. In a way it's reassuring - because you really need to delude yourself to keep going and if you didn't need to do that, you'd be a psycho. And you're probably a really nice person! So that all makes sense for you as a human. But it doesn't mean that adult social care is suitable, adequate, or even in most cases, existent.

You are sounding slightly paranoid, which is the only thing that seems concerning from your posts. No one could care less whether you have a TV or not but it does sound paranoid to be wondering about it.

To be fair, between 2013 and 2020.we had almost continual involvement of some kind of care resource with my late father then after he died, my mother. There were different care providers after each discharge from hospital but I never doubted their care. One of my Dad's regular carers until his final hospital stay met me in town soon after my dad died, I told her the sad news and the next day she popped round to see my mum with a card and some chocolate. That's caring in my book. All my parents care providers were efficient and nice and any issues were resolved very quickly. Carers are much maligned but they are truly worth their weight in gold. More recently I was visiting a friend in hospital and due to her situation, adult social care had been asked to be involved in her return home. Again all those people did care about what happened to her. Luckily she was able to have the 6 week care which tapered off as she got used to being home after about 5 weeks in hospital . I base my opinions on what I see.

Eh? Since when is it that a law? For households to have at least one television? Odd.

I haven’t ever owned a proper tv @AlertMentor. It’s unusual but not a crime!

I can hear alot of hurt and mistrust in what you’re saying, and I respect the experience you had as a long-term carer. I do think it’s important, though, to avoid framing professionals as deluded or uncaring simply because they hold a different view. Most people in adult social care are working within difficult systems and trying to apply legal duties as safely and ethically as they can.

That is great to hear your experience. Can I ask what is triggering your anxiety?

I've not had a TV for about ten years. Programming was so rubbish on New Year's Eve one year that we put the remotes away and never took them out again.

I had a serious infection last September involving time in ICU and then plenty of social care support when I finally got back home. No one so much as batted an eye that we have no TV. So I don't think it's any cause for concern.

@AlertMentor If anyone ever asks, you just tell them you never much cared for television and practically never watched anything, so you got rid of it.