Hi all,
Long story, but to cut to the chase, AIBU to expect Social Services to take less than 3 months to assess my Grandma??
Back in November, my Grandma who lives on her own was found by her neighbour wandering in the street. The neighbour took her in, gave her tea and biscuits etc and took her down to the doctors to make sure she was ok. Doctors had to notify the social care people, who bundled my grandma off to a care home 15 miles away to do an assessment.
My mum lives about 30 mins away, but since they cancelled 90% of the buses has no realistic way to get to my grandmas anymore as she doesn't drive. I live 2 hours away normally, but have been staying with my mum as i've got a temporary job working close by. While i've been there, i've been taking my mum down to see my grandma regularily.
We had no choice around where she was placed, which is half an hour further away from my mums, she's not the most mobile of people and would have to take 2 buses and walk a little ways to be able to see my grandma.
Initially Social services said they would pay for the care home until the assessment was complete, but what they actually meant was they would pay for 1 week then my grandma would have to pay for the rest. So, essentially, social services have no incentive to do the assessment with any speed, as they are not paying for the care.
the bit that really annoys me, is we have found a really good care home right next to my mums house that are happy to look after my grandma, but until the assessment is finished they won't take her. So my grandma is stuck paying £550 a week, when we have somewhere that would be better for her (as they do more activities and the staff seem to care more for the residents) and better for my mum because it would take literally 5 mins to walk there, and £200 a week cheaper!
My grandma is starting to suffer from dementia, but for Social services to take 3 months to do the assessment is ridiculous.
It was worse over xmas too, because I was back home with my family, my mum had no way to get to where my Grandma is until i started back at work on the 2nd Jan.
Bit of a rant, but just wondered if anyone else had been through the assessment process and whether there was anything we could do?
Thanks,
Derek
