Care homes

[Youmeanyouvelostyourkey]

Hi

My "aunt" who is in her 90s fell ill in the New Year and went to hospital and then into a care home. It's awful and not suitable for her and we wanted to move her. She is self funding as she owns a house but we currently have no access to her funds.

After 6 weeks social services have finally started their assessment but have said that it will take several months. In the meantime, my aunt is getting worse and worse as there is little stimulation and she is literally just stuck in a chair all day and not even allowed to go to bed for a rest.

We will be applying to the Court of Protection so that we can access her accounts/ put her house up for sale but is apparently taking 18 months or so.

Does anyone have any bright ideas as to how we can help her. Even clubbing together we can't afford 4k a month in fees. We are aware that there is an interim order we can request but not sure whether we would get it.

She's had an amazing life and to see her lost within herself is horrendous. We appear to be stuck caught up in red tape and meanwhile she's just stuck.

Thanks

I think you could go to CQC with your complaints, and see if they will go in and assess the home. It might force changes while she’s stuck there.

Are you using a solicitor for the COP? I think my fairly complicated Deputyship application went through in ten months although that was a couple of years ago.

Happy to recommend the ones I used by message of you want.

Apart from that, I think she will have a social worker who you might be able to track down.

I'm sorry you're going through this, it's so hard to watch a beloved and independent relative become a shadow of their former self.

But you need to be careful assuming it's the awful care home that's making her deteriorate. In her 90s, and having been ill, it's very likely you would see a rapid deterioration wherever she was.

It's very easy to blame the switch to a care home for the deterioration in our loved ones, when actually they wouldn't have gone to the home unless they were already on a path of accelerating need.

You may need to accept that this is the beginning of a new phase and just work hard on helping her be as comfortable as possible during it. It may even make it worse to move her, unless the home is truly awful.

We've been through this with two parents and it is really hard. She is lucky to have you in her corner.

Thanks. It's the simple things though. Her legs have become very swollen with oedema and we had to ask3 times to get a medical check for it

She should be allowed to lie down when she's tired. Yesterday she was incoherent and the SW has had to ask for a UTI test. They should be noticing that's shes worse than normal.

They literally sit all in a row jammed in. We are realistic enough to know that a lot of it is her but when we showed her a picture of a garden at this other home , she positively beamed. This place is definitely not good for her.

Who is ‘not letting her lie down?’

They need a DoLS in place of they’re preventing her from doing what she wishes to do.

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon Thanks. We shall look into it,

We are going to ask for a hospital bed for her too as she's just lying flat but her legs are so swollen. They are really letting her down