To wonder what would happen to owner occupiers in this situation?

[lemonsandlimes123]

Was watching Hospital last night on BBC2 and the focus was on the difficulty hospitals are having in moving people out once they are medically fit for discharge but need a care package etc from social care.

One of the cases was regarding a baby who required ventilation and 24hr care and one of the main reasons he couldn't be discharged was that his parents only had a 2 bed council house and this was deemed as too small as he needed his own room for carer etc and there was already another sibling as well. In light of this a larger property was identified and provided by the council. My question is, what would have happened if the family in question had not been council tenants and instead owned their own home? It may not be possible for them to just buy a bigger property, so what would happen in those circumstances? Would Mum Dad and the older sibling all be expected to share a room or would they simply not discharge the child?

What's the biscuit for? It's a valid question!

When they say '24 hour care' did they mean by the parents, who I assumed would be given basic training on how to manage the equipment etc, or do they mean a nurse there in the house 24/7? I can see more space would be needed if nursing staff were effectively living there too.

My father and my friend's husband both were nursed at home in their final days with a nurse visiting every four hours. We had a fair bit of equipment too. We used the lounge. In my friends case she only had a one-bedroomed cottage and had to use the lounge.

The extra room was for a carer to attend overnight. It was actually heart breaking. The child was facing a lifetime on a ventilator.

The whole programme was incredibly depressing. I did wonder at the inability of some people to help themselves and their families though i.e. the issue with the key being lost should not have been a barrier to discharge, it shouldn't have been beyond the wit of the granddaughter to sort out access to the grandmothers home.

So many sad stories all round.

I don’t know the answer but following as my brother recently suffered a catastrophic accident and looks likely to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He and his wife own a two-up two down with no downstairs bathroom or room to put one in. I guess they’ll have to sell and buy a bungalow and have it made accessible.

Owner occupiers can sometimes get grants towards the costs of extensions, for things like downstairs bathrooms.

People who can't use the stairs are often confined to downstairs and the living and/or dining room becomes their bedroom.