Hi, posting for traffic.
My dad is a type 1 diabetic and has mobility issues that came on quite suddenly last year. He was self-neglecting, refusing all help from family, basically hiding himself away at home. He's very reclusive.
We took him to the GP regarding his lack of mobility and issues at home (he's not managing basic self care) and they didn't really do much. Suggested he wait for a neurology appointment that he'd already been waiting months for but did order some blood tests to be done by the district nurse at home.
A few days later the district nurse arrived at his home to find him unresponsive on the sofa. Firemen had to be called to force entry to the home and an ambulance. He was having a serious hypo and was taken to hospital.
At this point we contacted social services to raise a safeguarding concern and the paramedics said they would also raise a safeguarding concern. We discovered he wasn't buying food, eating properly, washing, showering. Totally self-neglecting. Social services said that because he was in hospital, his needs were being met so they could log it but not do anything at that time.
Throughout his hospital stay he took his insulin incorrectly (though insisted he was taking it right) and had numerous hypos. He had various scans and tests to uncover the reason for his sudden mobility problems and nothing serious was found. He was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy but the drs said they didn't understand why he couldn't walk as he should be able to.
He was discharged home and given a care package to help him. He refused them entry to his house once he went home and that was the end of it. He's deemed as having capacity to make his own decisions and so was entitled to refuse care.
In December he had another serious hypo, unresponsive in bed. This time he was found by a district nurse who had come to review how he was getting on with his diabetes. Again, the firemen had to force entry to his home and an ambulance was called. Again he went to hospital. He continued to mismanage his insulin and was difficult with staff.
This time he was discharged in January this year with a reablement care package meaning that he would have a lunch and dinner time carer to assist with meals. He allowed them in for the most part although wouldn't have food in for them to cook. The care company don't relay information to us reliably so we don't always know what's going on.
On Saturday my dad turned his lunch time carer away - he can't explain why and thinks he was already in the early stages of a hypo. We weren't informed by the care company. The dinner time carer found him unresponsive in bed later that day and called an ambulance (she had access to the house because he now has a key safe installed) This time was the worst he's been. His blood sugar was 1.4 which is extremely low. Previous times it was around 2.
He refused to go to hospital against paramedics advice and then was left at home. I called the emergency social services on Sunday and was told I needed to call back on Monday. On Monday I called Social services again and was told I needed to contact his care worker that had been assigned after his hospital stay - she's in charge of his reablement package. I wasn't able to get hold of her until Wednesday despite numerous calls and messages but she said she's looking into it. Whatever that means.
GP was also contacted on Monday morning in an urgent request as we wanted to request that district nurses visit him every day to help him check his blood sugar, help him administer his insulin and check that he's eaten as the carers aren't able to do any medical care. GP said she would visit him the next day to speak to him about a way to move forward.
She never came back to us to update us. We have no idea what was discussed at that appointment as my dad is extremely difficult to speak to and he frequently lies/gets confused.
Contacted the GP surgery on Wednesday for an update - no response.
Today, I messaged my dad to check in and he informed me that he'd had another serious hypo, ambulance called etc. Found out from the care company after calling them that he'd been found by his lunch time carer unresponsive in bed again. Extremely low blood sugar. The care company didn't inform us until we called them.
We've contacted the GP again to explain that something isn't right with his health, he's complaining that he's hypoing in his sleep because he's too tired to wake up and eat and she's unavailable but the receptionist relayed a message to us that there's nothing she can do yet because she's waiting on advice from the diabetic team.
The care worker in charge is kicking off with the care agency about their lack of communication with us but other than that, she's not done anything. She said he still hasn't been allocated an actual social worker - I'm not sure what the difference is between her and a social worker.
I'm at an absolute loss as to where to go from here. The GP has described him as a ticking time bomb and it's only a matter of time before he has his next serious hypo but nothing really seems to be happening. No one is standing up and taking charge of the situation, it's just me and my sister desperately trying to call around everyone to find out what we can do.
If anyone has any experience with social services or is a GP and can advise what we can do it would be really appreciated. This latest hypo is only 5 days after his last one and I'm so worried about him. These aren't minor episodes, each time he is completely unresponsive, very close to death with no way of helping himself or communicating to someone that he's unwell.
My sister and I both have a very strained relationship with him and he's awful to us both but I just can't leave him to deal with this alone. He's so reluctant for help and we don't know if he's abusing his insulin or not eating on purpose to make himself unwell or if he's genuinely struggling to manage his diabetes alone. It's all such a mess.
Please if anyone can help in any way, it would mean a lot. Where do we go from here?