What is going on in this house?

[Neighbourmystery]

Right, this is going to sound nosy but here goes...
A house in a street I know was owned by an old lady with no family. When she died, her house stood empty for nearly a year then it started having work done. It's been bought by a health service far away from he town we live in (think I live in Liverpool and NHS Devon and Cornwall bought it) BTW these are not the real locations. So, they do lots of renovations, including putting a much higher fence up which has a key code entry they also put frosted film on every window. There's a new build extension on the side with coded keypads too. This is where 2 carers are. There are 4 carers altogether, 2 at a time and then a swap. There is one man who lives there . He is in his 30s , able bodied can move well etc I've seen him once or twice in the garden in a whole year. Another twice I saw a darkened van come to get him. He was only gone for an hour or so then back.
I cannot imagine the scenario this might be. I'm not curtain twitching and permanently watching but I am fascinated.

Are you near a hospital that specialises in anything?
I knew two transplant recipients, they had to travel across the border several times on false starts to the transplant hospital. In one case they stayed nearby in a charity sponsored house.
Could it be that?

Just because you have seen him able bodied at some point doesnt mean he always is.

I understand why you are curious and I think that's normal.

I think most of us realise that someone with complex needs might need adjustments to their housing and support to live independently. But the fact that this is being provided in a different part of the country from where the providers (and therefore we assume the client) are based is bound to make you curious.

One thing I don't understand is how you have so much insight into how it's all organised - the fact that the carers live in separate accommodation for example. Have you spoken to them about this, or was it somehow evident when the building work was put in place?

(I, too, have no particular need to know this detail, I am just curious myself).

Early onset alzheimers can require this kind of care... and people still appear healthy and able outwardly because their bodies are, it's just their minds that aren't. :(

There is an assumption in a lot of your posts, that people with complex needs of the kind we assume OP's neighbour has, cannot enjoy their lives, regardless of their situation and what care and support they receive.

Are you genuinely sure about this? Or do you in fact mean that they can't enjoy their lives in the same way you enjoy yours? The latter may be true, but I don't know how you can possibly claim to know the former.

I think you assume that your enjoyment of your life, because it resembles what you see as "normal", is a lot more important than his. And I would fundamentally dispute this argument. I can't see that any one person's happiness is intrinsically more important than anothers.

If you feel disabled people's happiness matters less, you are on a slippery slope to a scary set of views, in my opinion. But perhaps you know that and don't care. Perhaps you've already slid down it, in fact.

As I said before, just because we spent a lot of money on some scenarios where it arguably makes sense, doesn't mean we should automatically spend huge amounts of money on completely different scenarios where it arguably doesn't. I am talking about a very specific thing here, not all expensive medical or social care in general.

We don't put people in institutions for life anymore. I'm proud to live in such a humane country.

But it's humane to isolate them by moving them into a house where they live with no-one but a 24 hour a day team of paid carers for company and they are not free to go out unaccompanied? They may as well be serving a whole life term in solitary confinement and only speaking to prison guards. It's an 'institution for life' whichever way you cut it. It's just dressed up as being more humane and that window dressing is exceptionally expensive and not remotely sustainable.

In these scenarios the people in question are 'locked up' to all intents and purposes anyway aren't they? They are not free to roam as they wish. They have carers with them constantly, like guards or wardens really. The houses/care homes they are kept in are secure, so not really that much different to a prison or a secure psychiatric hospital in that respect. They aren't free to just go out as they like and when they do go out it will usually always be accompanied, although that will vary from case to case. These houses would appear to be largely used to care for people for whom a shared residential setting is deemed 'inappropriate.' Which means they are being kept 'locked up in solitary confinement' in all but name.

Million-pound patient.

dont Worry OP I would he exactly the same! I’m actually very intrigued as to what it is! Ignore the ‘holier than though’ comments!

Think its a legitimate question! Why the geographical disparity I winder?

If you think supported living accomodation in the community is "like prison or secure hospital" then I'm sorry but you really have no idea what you are talking about.

The country can’t sustain this type of care - dementia patients who have worked all their lives are locked up in large numbers because they are a danger to themselves and others paying thousands of pounds till their money runs out ! Do you think they get 2 to 1 care - don’t make me laugh very often sedated and locked in to wander about with all the others. Imagine if all our elderly demented in a purpose built home with 2 to 1 care, why is this person special?

How is that cheaper? rent and building upkeep of hospitals and residential care still exist. The carers would still need to be paid. And if it’s in a facility you’re suggesting locking a person up in one room all day every day. Like a prisoner.

People with dementia do get 2:1 care at times if it’s appropriate. My daughter literally does that as her job.
This person isn’t special, they may HAVE dementia in fact. None of us know.

And who pays for this £7000 per week care?

How do you know they don’t have visitors? or go to activities? You’re creating a scenario in your head with ZERO basis in fact. It’s not solitary confinement if they aren’t looked in one room with no one to talk to/interact with.

Have you googled the address? Might have some info online

Any clues on the planning permission for the extension?

I haven't read all the messages so sorry if it's been said, have you been on your council's planning portal? It might say on there what it's being used for.

All these people making out they wouldn’t want to know either. I want to know 😂

I’ve stayed in a charity sponsored house. It did have staff in it but they would leave after their work hours and security wasn’t as tight as OP describes. It also had 4 bedrooms so wasn’t just for one person.

@ForeverNowWithin

Thank you for your insights. It's useful to know whether entire classes of individuals are capable of enjoyment, or would simply be better off being locked up for life.

As for the NHS, thank God we have people like you to oversee the budget. Because its problems are undoubtedly due to the minuscule number of people being cared for like the man in the thread, and his feckless relatives who undoubtedly only put in about 20 years doing the work of five full time professionals before they couldn't be bothered any more.

It's not like these costs are completely and utterly dwarfed by those associated with our ageing population, the developments of expensive but effective life preserving treatments, years of austerity and underfunding, rising poverty, increases in chronic conditions, covid, staffing issues and the decline of social care.

And also, thank God that the rest of us can guarantee that we will never become expensive ourselves. I mean, what kind of idiot has a serious accident, a stroke or a rare cancer anyway.

What a fucking joke.

They absolutely do get 2-1 care if they need it, ICBs commission extra staff to provide it in the care home.

well that won't be the case for every person but lots of people who clearly seem to have in depth knowledge of this sort of assisted living facility have said that it's often used for service users who cannot safely be around others in a shared residential setting. So apart from family who may visit periodically, then yes it would be EXACTLY like being in solitary confinement with no other residents to socialise with, and only staff.