Elderley person not coping living along - what happens now?

You mention a warden so I presume she is in some kind of sheltered housing with an emergency alarm necklace she can wear? Do you still not think that is enough? What exactly is her difficulty? Is is just mobility or is she confused as well? If it is just mobility can't she have a walking frame/wheelchair? Don't Occupational Health assess this kind of thing? Sorry, not much help.

C-L

First off, I would find out if her local SS offer a service where they pay your Gran to employ her own carers - I know that they do this in 3 areas near me.

That would mean help with getting dressed, Hot food arriving twice a day & somebody to help in the evening - so allowing he to stay at home.

If they don't offer this service, has any family member appilied for carer allowance, if she is over 80 I think an attendance allowance is payable, but that might be what I put above?

I do hope she is well enough to return to her own home.

xx

Hi - thanks for your reply...

She lives in sheltered housing with a warden who calls her once a day. She has a box on the wall with a pull cord to call them if she needs to... if she can get to the box!

She also has a walking frame but can only take about 5 steps before she has to rest and she gets really really short of breath - she says it takes her 2 hours to dress herself as she has to keep stopping to rest.

She also has a carer who comes once a week to do her shopping and get her pension which has helped for a while but it's really not covering her needs anymore.

I really don't think she will be assessed as being able to live alone but just don't know what the next step is.

Thanks Mrs JMP - SS actually came out to assess her yesterday but I don't know what their conclusions are yet and if they will change now that she is in hospital. My gran is determined to leave hospital tomorrow so hopefully they will make some decisions before this reaches a head.

If she is currently in hospital they shouldn't discharge her until she is going to be safe at home. as long as you voice your opinions and worries to the hospital they should be able to arrage some services to be put in place for her going home. i know she has agreed to stay in only one night but if medically she is not fit then looks like she'll be in a bit longer and its not as if she can discharge herself (sounds cruel but you know what i mean).

i have a great aunt who cant walk full stop and needs a hoist to stand. she is still in her own home with carers 4 times a day.

x

If she is currently in hospital they shouldn't discharge her until she is going to be safe at home. as long as you voice your opinions and worries to the hospital they should be able to arrange some services to be put in place for her going home. i know she has agreed to stay in only one night but if medically she is not fit then looks like she'll be in a bit longer and its not as if she can discharge herself (sounds cruel but you know what i mean).

i have a great aunt who cant walk full stop and needs a hoist to stand. she is still in her own home with carers 4 times a day.

x

Thanks for that - I didn't realise you could get such a high level of help in her own home so hopefully we can sort something like this out for her.

Good luck!

x

She should be able to get one of those alarm button thinks put on a necklace too - both my grans had those. Is there any chance the Wardens could check on her more frequently?

If a home is the answer, will she be self-funding? If so, it's pretty much down to the relatives to find a place and the waiting lists can be huge - as well as the cost involved! If she has no funds or assets at all, I think they allocate her somewhere but I know that places can be hard to come by and not necessarily where you would choose to go.

C-L

Sorry to hear about your Gran. I worked with the elderly as an Occupational Therapist before going into management 2 months ago. So have some 11 years experience.

No-one will put your Gran into a home unless she has been properly assessed by a Dr, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist, Nurse and Social Worker. Plus, it's not what your Gran wants. I can appreciate that you have great concerns for her and it's normal for family to be protective and want a residential care home as that is usually the first option that family think of to make Gran safe. But so long as she has her mental faculties there should be no need to go into a home and there is care that she can receive to ensure that she is safe to return home.

I would recommend that your Gran goes into some sort of rehabilitation unit for the elderly. She needs time to get over the chest infection and recuperate before going home otherwise she will just wear herself out even more and probably end up back in hospital. The problem with hospitals at this time of year is that they discharge people far too quickly as it is coming up to Christmas. But you need to be quite firm that your Gran needs some rehabilitation and a full assessment. She may not want to do this but explaining that the plan is for her to return home and explain the benefits, then people are usually more receptive.

It sounds as though she needs a Physio assessment. If she hasn't been well for a while she will have not been walking and her muscles will have detriorated. She needs to be given a fair chance at regaining her strength and keep an eye on her chest.

The nurses will monitor her phsical health and check her progress following the chest infection.

The OT can assess her mental abilities, carry out a full assessment and may carry out a home assessment with her if this is required, to ensure that she is safe to go home. The OT will also carry out a washing and dressing assessment and hot drink and or hot meal cooking if this is appropriate. The OT will then inform the Social Worker what care is to be required.

The SW can usually recommend 3/4 calls per day to assist with personal care, shopping, snacks etc. But this does vary from area to area. Our SW's have stopped placing orders for home care as it is not possible to get anymore care before christmas now so your Gran might have to stay. Forgot to add that the SW will also look into obtaining benefits to pay for services if they are required. She will definitely qualify for attendance allowance if she needs assistance with personal care or has problems with her memory.

There is also the option of day centres, befriending services, regular respite when an elderly person will go the maximum is once every 6 weeks as a recuperation type exercise, but the timings can be changed to suit peoples needs. Hot meal delivery services and frozen microwave meals are available. Some places have laundry and shopping services. Community rehab services should also exist which will provide ongoing rehab with things like overseeing personal care or mobility once your Gran is at home, but these rehab services do not generally go on for longer than 6 weeks.

If Gran is adamant that she is going home and there's nothing that anyone can do to persuade her otherwise then I would try and get the community rehab services or crisis intervention teams involved who will be able to access all the above anyway.

Hope that everything works out ok for her. Let us know how she gets on.

I hope you can get her some help she's happy with. But assuming she's compos mentis, she can choose to live in less than ideal circumstances. It's her life. She can choose to take the risk of living alone. I suspect I would.

I agree with Little Miss Scatterbrain. The hospital will not discharge your Gran, unless they are happy that she is safe to go home. They should have already had a chat with your Gran re: her living arrangements (this is a normal part of the admission process-we will assess patients and their living conditions, and ensure that they are in a safe environment, with any assistance that they may need)

I would recommend that you have a chat with the nursing staff, and make them aware of your concerns. They will be best placed to help you, and your Gran to ensure she is discharged into a safe environment. This may mean going back into her current house, with extra daily help, etc....

They will be able to sort all of this out for you during your Grans stay in hospital (however short). Don't panic, it does not necessarily mean she will be kept in for many days, just that she will not be discharged until nursing staff/OT etc deem she is 'safe to go home'. They will be able to sort out immediate help, without too much trouble at all (ie, arranging for daily carers to help with washing/dressing/cooking etc) And it sounds like OT will be involved, so you could expect a home visit from them, after your Gran has returned home, to assess her domestic situation, and ensure she has all of the tools/aids to enable her to continue living at home, comfortably and safely.

You might want to ask for a SS1 (either the Nursing staff, or yourself and your Gran can fill this in) It is a form that alerts social services to your Grans situation(with information on all of her aspects of daily life: taking meds/washing/dressing/cooking/mobility etc) to highlight the ares in which she is currently having difficulties.

Obviously I do not know the full situation, but from your post, I believe it will be entirely possible for your Gran to remain in her current house, albeit with additional assistance, if that is what she wants.

Hope she feels better soon

Thank you for taking the time to give such detailed replies - I am about to phone the hospital to find out where we go from here and will be doing my best to get her as much help as possible.

Thanks again.