Carers

[flygirl767]

Hi well the latest on my mum is that although she has been on a MH ward for over 2 weeks, they think the problem lies with her retaining urine and being constipated. I had no idea this could cause such confusion! She has a catheter at the moment which they removed once but had to put back in because of the same issues.

Tomorrow I have an on line meeting with the consultant, AMHP and someone else who I've forgotten with a view to her being discharged at some point. I don't think she is ready to go home with a cathater as she flatly refuses to learn how to empty it herself. It is not permanent but they are in no rush to take it out again. Do carers do this sort of thing at home or would it need to be a nurse? They have said the district nurse will call but I can just imagine that will not be every day or would it?

Second question, she will not qualify for free care so will be paying. Do we organise our own carers in that case? She is already saying she only wants one she gets on with, I think she thinks she can interview someone! She was getting all bolshy today saying she's fine, doesn't need them etc. I can see this being a flipping nightmare! Much easier while she has been in hospital round the corner from me but they obviously want her bed and she wants to get home.

Catheter I think would be district nurse. They'll visit as often as needed (there's a lot of them, even though everyone talks about the District Nurse.)

You shouldn't have to organise your own care (although you can do), although this does vary from LA to LA. My father was a self funder, but we just went with the LA choice, who were very good. I think it was about £15ph, certainly not as much as we were expecting. I you're certain she's not eligible, you can refuse the financial assessment and just tell them she's self funding. The financial assessment is intrusive and a lot of extra admin that you can do without.

If the thought is that eventually she will be fine at home, you may be able to get a "reablement package" - this is paid for by the NHS so is free, it's whatever help is needed until such time that they decide she's OK without help, or she'll need long term help, up to a maximum of 6 weeks. It;s a different team from whatever long term carers she may have, but they won't leave her in the lurch - eg after 1 week they may decide that she needs long term care, and hand her over to Social Services, but they'll continue to look after her until Social Services have sorted out their team.

@MereDintofPandiculation

Catheter I think would be district nurse. They'll visit as often as needed (there's a lot of them, even though everyone talks about the District Nurse.)

You shouldn't have to organise your own care (although you can do), although this does vary from LA to LA. My father was a self funder, but we just went with the LA choice, who were very good. I think it was about £15ph, certainly not as much as we were expecting. I you're certain she's not eligible, you can refuse the financial assessment and just tell them she's self funding. The financial assessment is intrusive and a lot of extra admin that you can do without.

If the thought is that eventually she will be fine at home, you may be able to get a "reablement package" - this is paid for by the NHS so is free, it's whatever help is needed until such time that they decide she's OK without help, or she'll need long term help, up to a maximum of 6 weeks. It;s a different team from whatever long term carers she may have, but they won't leave her in the lurch - eg after 1 week they may decide that she needs long term care, and hand her over to Social Services, but they'll continue to look after her until Social Services have sorted out their team.

Thank you so much, that is exactly what I needed to know. My meeting starts at 11 so I feel a bit better prepared for it now. Interesting to know about the financial assessment, she definitely won't qualify (I assume savings in premium bonds count) so we will skip that part. Extra admin I can do without!

Yes, premium bonds savings will count because they're accessible money. The house won't count if she's living in it. Depends how long she has savings for - you'll obviously need a financial assessment once her savings get towards the limit, which I think (but check this) is £23,000.

I don't know how they treat inaccessible money, eg long term bonds, but I presume the same, since many building societies have an unadvertised proviso that funds can be released if needed to pay for care.

I suspect the community nurses will be there to change the catheter or deal with issues such as blockages but not empty the bag. This would be a carers role if she is unable to do so herself.
Yes definitely ask for reablement- it might take a few days to sort. Ask about her discharge planning. Has she got a social worker? Is there a discharge coordinator?
Even if she 'interviewed' a company (which she is fully entitled to do if she's self funding) there is absolutely no guarantee she'll get the same carers every day.
Also unfortunately with Covid and the push to get people out of hospital a lot of care companies are at capacity.
Good luck!

Thanks everyone! Well she's being kept in for another 2 weeks when we will have another meeting. The MH nurse mentioned her going to respite care first (I assume that means a nursing home?) and then home with carers morning and night initially. She will be assigned a social worker once they have agreed she is ready for discharge.

She seems to have forgotten a lot of basic tasks like washing and dressing herself unaided so occupational health want to do some more work with her plus they want to repeat some cognitive tests as they think there may be some mild dementia.

Yes, respite in a care home