Currently living in London. Have a daughter with severe physical & mild learning disabilities. The services in our area have gradually eroded. There is a respite unit but it is poorly staffed, the place is not well kept & the clients there don't appear to be engaged in anything, they just wander about ainlesdly or watch TV. They don't appear to go out.
My daughter attends activities for a total of 12.5 hours a week. These services are good but just not enough of them.
We get Direct Payments but there is very little to spend them on. I would like to find a personal assistant for my daughter but the local brokerage service that is mean't to assist you with finding someone is useless. They have advised me on writing an advert & looking for someone but no practical help. In short nothing ever leads anywhere.
My husband & I are now in our 70's. I am finding it harder & harder physically & trying to think of things to amuse my daughter when we're are different generations & to have the energy & enthusiasm to do it.
Just recently the local authority clawed back £20,000 of Direct Payment money because we hadn't spent it. But I want to find someone to take my daughter out, nit just sit in with her which is what happens if we get a carer from our local agency. Tried other agencies too but much the same. Our DP money will pay £13 ph- but people simply aren't interested when there is a lot of manual handling involved( I.e transferring her on and offtoilets when they go out as daughter can barely stand) & hard enough to find accessible toilets sometimes. Seriously thinking of moving( want a bungalow now not just for daughter but to future proof for me & husband) & am thinking of West/South Sussex or Kent- in that order. Anyone out there who can tell me what services for disabled adults are like in those places?
Feeling down about it all recently.