Desperate for advice on helping ill grandparent

[sunnyfields25]

My nana, late 80s, had a fall in February and was rushed to hospital. A scan confirmed a bleed on the brain which they couldn't operate on as she wasn't strong enough for surgery. The hospital didn't see the point in doing any further tests or assessments, and did a fast track discharge to a care home, telling us that she would be dead within a few weeks.

Nine months later and my nana is still alive, but bedbound, barely eating, and a shadow of her former self. She's always been such a kind, caring, lovely person, but since her fall and the brain injury her mood is very unpredictable. Some days she'll be more like her old self, but others she will be quite unpleasant. My mum bears the brunt of her cruel words but she will also lash out physically and verbally at the care home staff. We are confident this is due to her brain injury and/or dementia, but without any medical input we can't say for certain. She's on the waiting list to be assessed by the mental health team for older people, but it's unlikely they'll ever see her. We keep getting passed from pillar to post in trying to get some form of assessment and answers as to what's causing my nana's behaviour, whether there's anything that can be done to help and what her prognosis is.

The situation has been brought to a head by the care home manager saying that unless they can get my nana's behaviour under control they will have to give 28 days' notice and then she needs to move out. But she has nowhere to go. And without an assessment to find out what her needs are relating to mental health and/or brain injury, we don't know how to find a suitable replacement care home.

Is there anyone who's been in a similar situation, and can recommend any other avenues we can pursue? We could perhaps look at paying privately for some sort of assessment, depending on the cost (which I think would need to include a CT brain scan) but I have no idea how to go about this! Or is there anything else we can do to get help within the NHS? The waiting lists for everything are so long, it feels like the relevant services are just hoping my nana will die before they have to help her.

You would need to contact adult social services based at the council. The care home should have the contact details. Has a gp seen her recently?

The social worker will be able to carry out an an assessment of her needs

Thanks they're both good suggestions but bizarrely we were told we can no longer access social services help as my nana chose to go private with her care home. She didn't choose it, we were told that the continuing healthcare funding was coming to an end and so there was no choice but to pay.

Also we've been told my nana can no longer see a GP because the practice has a designated person who visits care home residents instead. Except we don't know if she's visited or when she will visit because my nana isn't often lucid enough to tell us.

It probably depends on area, but there may be a care home liaison person at the older adults community mental health team. They are usually good at assessing and helping in this kind of situation.

Also, the charity Headway ( for brain injury) have a helpline I think.