My mum has advanced Alzheimer's and is in a Care Home. I was present for the CHC assessment, where she scored 1severe, 5 high, 3 moderate, 1 low and 2 nil. The report refused CHC on the basis of mum having no Primary Health Care need, but did award some Nursing Funding. I know CHC is very hard to get, but I'm thinking of appealing and thought Mumsnet might help me decide if it's worth it or not.
There are several things in the report I disagree with. I think there's a very strong case to make for her having a Primary Health Care need; mainly due to her taking strong medication to minimise the hallucinations and extreme anxiety she suffers from. They barely mention this side of her condition and seem to have swerved it, so have decided she wouldn't get the funding based on the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability mix, being low. I admit that Mum is now relatively calm most of the time, but this is only because of the extreme drugs she's on, which they basically heavily sedate her to try to make her life tolerable. Even with those drugs she has daily incidents of extreme anxiety, which need careful and skilled management. The assessor has barely acknowledged this and the final reports declares that as mum's broadly compliant and predictable, she only has Care needs.
Also, the assessment was undertaken by just one assessor, as the social worker didn't turn up. This goes against their own guidelines, which insist on at least 2 assessors. I honestly feel that they've misunderstood my mother's condition and reported her needs inaccurately, but does anyone have any insight into CHC who knows how successful appeals can be? I feel exhausted just thinking about it!