My Father had a stroke just before Christmas. He didn't rehabilitate well in hospital and basically ' gave up'. I am a nurse so have a degree of understanding about discharge procedures and in a previous role completed CHC checklists in the days when these were done in hospital. In keeping with current policy we were told he would be discharged to a funded placement for up to 6 weeks while his needs were assessed. We had no choice of placement and no direct communication from the ICS team. After the move he continued to deteriorate and by about day 12 after discharge I asked if the nursing home completed the checklist or if I had to contact social services. I was told by the home that as he was deteriorating so rapidly he would have funded care, I assumed that it had been decided that he met the fast track criteria. The GP visited regularly, it was agreed he was dying and ' just in case ' drugs prescribed. He died around three weeks later having been in the care home for just under 6 weeks. We have now been presented with a bill for the care. I contacted the social worker who apparently had been involved in the move from hospital and she said that the care home had said he would be eligible for a full assessment of need but he died before this was done.
Apparently the GP should have completed the fast track paperwork but didn't. I pointed out that his death was not unexpected and we knew he was dying. Social services are saying that I need to ask the care home why the paperwork wasn't completed. I feel that as he was placed there without any discussion there should have been communication from the ICS team. If we were funding the placement we wouldn't have necessarily chosen the home he went to. Plus he was dying and should have been fast tracked. I am being passed around a variety of people, I don't believe correct processes were followed but would want to avoid using a solicitor if I can resolve this myself. Does anyone have any suggestions of steps I need to take?