Social care experiences

FiL was sent - 3 times, I think - to an intermediate care home for up to 6 weeks. He was, on another occasion, assessed for a care package at home but that only covered certain things and he needed more than they could provide. So we had a week to put a privately funded package in place. Fortunately he could afford it, although he was adamant that he didn't want it!

I think we hear more about the negative situations regarding social services than the many thousands of cases that go well.

It is good to hear some encouraging stories - wherever you live I really wish we had been there in our hour of need!

I can honestly say that Kettering general hospital were brilliant when my elderly brother was in and out of hospital during the last year of his life.
As was the local Isebrook hospital where he stayed for a couple of months in the early part of last year.
The house was assessed and he had a hospital bed, heart monitor, everything he needed before he came home.
My other brother had been his main carer over the last few years but elderly brother's health deteriorated over time and ended up bed bound.
Social services wouldn't let him home unless he had 2 careers 3 times a day as carer brother was 75 himself.
The agency carers, although he had to pay out a huge amount for their services were brilliant and who were medically knowledgeable. Couldn't wish for any better.
The only downside was that they didn't always arrive in the allocated time but that wasn't their fault. They got held up with other people for one reason and another so it put's them behind.
Doctors surgery here? Well that's another story.

Agree with Iam64, you need to know what you are entitled to, be assertive and fight tooth and nail with the threat of a complaint. My daughter is in intensive care and it will be many weeks before a discharge but I have started already. In my experience there a very few social workers who are any good with many being as much good as a chocolate fireguard

Like boheminanmy late MIL had a carepackage put in place before she was discharged .She had 2 carers 4 times a day ,all the aids needed fitted before she came home.The care lasted until she died a year later at the beginning of December
,My neighbour lost his leg during the first lockdown ,he has carers 4times a day every day and hospital transport takes him to and from appointments weekly .
There are areas where its not so good ,where there is a shortage of staff , but we have always been very happy with NHS treatment and social care for ourselves our family and friends

Refuse to leave until it's all guaranteed to be in place. Hope your poor ankle isn't too sore.

Have a speedy recovery Boheminan ?

Get well soon Boheminan

Get well bohemian. OT’s offer great practical support

It is good that you are not being discharged until it is all in place. The new government scheme does it the other way round!

I do hope your ankle will mend speedily.

I'm sitting in a hospital bed reading this. I've broken my ankle and my partner is not able to do much for himself., I'm his carer.
I will be immobile for a few months.

The social package being put into action is amazing. I'm not sure who's involved, but OT have organised 2 carers to come and help 3 times a day, commode and walking frame are being delivered. I won't be discharged until the package is put into place.

As far as I'm aware, Social Services haven't been involved yet - perhaps it'll all start going pear shaped if they are.

I would love to agree with mumsnet ? but sadly in my experience it’s just not true. My mum broke her hip and was sent home 8 weeks later still unable to walk, luckily the physio called in to see her the same day , ordered an ambulance and sent her straight back ! They kept her for another 7 week and organised the enablement team to visit for 6 weeks. I then had to have her assessed, she was awarded Carer’s 3 times a day from then.
My dad years ago after suffering a stroke was regularly sent home unable to walk, mum and me had to manage him ourself.
Mum was taken in to hospital a few weeks ago with chest pain, they sent her home at 3am without letting me know. She was distressed and confused next morning when I eventually found her. ?

I have 2 neighbours who are both in 80s and who have been in hospital and now at home. Both had free 6 weeks care and following that they both have carers that attend twice a day.

I was a carer myself and that is the side of the fence that i am knowledgeable about. Regarding the hit and miss times, i can only agree, it was extremely common and i would say it was top of the list for complaints. I used to complain myself to the co-ordinator in the office on behalf of Mrs A B and C, i used to ask them "HAVE YOU NOT GOT A MAP IN THAT OFFICE ???" Not that it did the slightest bit of good !

My experience of so called social care started five years ago when my mother became incapacitated, and I know it has become a good deal worse since then.

Elderly people are discharged into the community without adequate care or resources, and local authorities are struggling with lack of funding.
Many will only know when they or relatives are impacted.

There are insufficient qualified social workers and care staff, both domiciliary and in care homes.

What is worse is the goalposts have been moved so that people who previously could expect assessment before hospital discharge now no longer can, and NHS funding is practically non existent for those who should qualify.

Years of lack of funding during austerity badly affected social care, before the pandemic and Brexit impacted, and I can only say it is a reflection of how the elderly and disabled are valued and viewed in our society.

My main support and advice has come from helpful posters on Gransnet.

Not my professional or personal experience either. A wildly tortuous system beset by unnecessary bureaucracy, constant change, staff shortages and exhuastion.

I have felt very frustrated by the Mumsnet thread as those responding are social workers who are adamant that it all works fine. There is a new system called D2S - yes really - which stands for Discharge to Assess. It's the latest government buzz "word".

I was a SW many moons ago was employed to do a research project on discharge from hospital, and the basic principle was that assessing for care should happen before discharge so that a return home could go smoothly. They are saying that they get everything in place beforehand, but what happens if the stuff put in is inadequate and the patient then has nowhere to go? I know what happens - some relative finds themselves trying their best to provide care with inadequate equipment and support.

My OH was initially offered the 6 week free package - he was assessed as needing 2 carers 4 times a day. At the last minute this was withdrawn as the agency the SSD used could not provide that level of care. So I had to stand in for 2 carers 4 times a day!!!

What has got under my skin is the complacency of these posters on Mumsnet - they are sure it is all fine.

Good Heavens! Where are these people with such good social care that Mumsnet people mention? I've never heard anything but complaints about how bad things are post discharge. After my 90+ year old MiL was discharged she was assessed as was I as carer. All the social worker came up with was that I'd benefit from a support group and an apology that she couldn't locate one. As if I'd have time to go to one anyway!

It has to be set up before you leave hospital.
I kept asking to speak to the duty social worker and it never happened.

They discharged my mum late one night when nobody was there to speak up.

The lady over the road came out of hospital after breaking her hip late last year and had 6 weeks of care. Maybe it depends on your postcode?

After years of deliberate under-funding by the Government social care is on its knees. Of course most people only realise this once they need it for a loved one. I speak from both experience of having to navigate the system for my elderly father and also the fact that I have a close family member who was a social worker, although they're retired now.

A lot of the problems that the NHS is experiencing at the moment with the delays in operations are due to being unable to discharge elderly people needing social care. So there's a knock-on effect all round. Add in the effects of Brexit where so many dedicated European people who used to work in care have gone home, and you've got a perfect storm.

There's no immediate answer here, it's taken years for the Tories to destroy public services and it will take years of reinvestment and strategic planning to get them back being fit for purpose. Personally I also object to the fact that not only are we funding social care via the council tax but a double whammy of working people having to pay increased National Insurance purportedly for social care too, once they've initially used it for the NHS.

My mum was unable to stand when she was sent home.
I pointed this out and managed to delay for a while, but home she came, where she sat in her chair and was unable to get out of it.

We then had to take her back to A and E, and were told that she now didnt qualify for the 6 weeks support, as she had been discharged.

She had to move in with me for 9 months.

In my ignorance I thought that I may get some help from social workers. On one occasion my mum was in hospital and was assessed to see if she was fit to go home. If she could make a cup of tea and a piece of toast, she was fit to go home. They took her to her kitchen and she couldn't manage to do it so the lady who was assessing her helped and then said she was fine!

My mother had dementia and I explained that she could sound fine for a couple of minutes and please talk to her for longer as she would just repeat herself. They spoke to her very briefly and decided she was fine.

In the “good old days” of 4 1/2 years ago we got 6 weeks of free carers up to 4 times a day, starting with a home assessment and the first visit the day after Paw came home, plus visits from a physio and all disability aids fitted for free.
It seems those days are no more

Nothing good to report here.
Neither my mum nor my daughter got anything like respectful, appropriate treatment.

I could write a huge list of failings.