... praise for the NHS ...
Can I praise the support in the community around Bristol. My relative gets extremely good support looking after the aunt in her home. The community nuring team are very helpful and the supervisors give her a lot of support. The doctor is good,visiting on a regular basis. The ambulance service is also very helpful sending people round to pick the aunt up when she has had a fall.
But not in Dorset
The compares to the almost complete lack of service offered in part of Dorset. My mother had broken her collarbone. She had gone home and was living in her apartment, which is a retirement complex, with a warden.
OK the first incident was partially my mother's own fault. She had moved the security pull in her bedroom and one morning she was unable to get out of bed and unable to pull the cord. She was unable to attract anyone's attention until late in the afternoon and was unsurprisingly very distressed. I dropped everything and went down to sort my mother out.
I was very surprised that the warden had not checked on her, at least by phone, as she was well aware my mother had been to hospital. The more I got to know the warden the more I became convinced she was totally unsuited to the job. The warden did not call on my mother, or even phone her, to see how she was even though she had been told by at least two residents of my mother's problems. The next morning at 9:30 the next morning the fire alarms went off. They were being tested by a technician. The warden did not think to go around and tell the residents and seemed annoyed when I asked what was going on. When I saw her two days later all I got was a lecture on what she shouldn't do. In fact she said that all her job entailed was calling for an ambulance and letting the ambulance crew in, when an emergency cord was pulled. So much for the £300+ per month my mother and all the other residents pay.
I went to talk to the local social services. My mother is too rich to receive any help. All they would do is give me a list of nursing agencies and nursing homes. They would not advise me on what my mother needed or what type of services the different agencies offered because they cannot recommend any commercial services.
Two days later my mother could not get up. She had moved herself so that she was balanced right on the edge of the bed. I was terrified to help her up as if I got it wrong she call fall. I called the hospital that had treated my mother for advice and they said that I should contact the control room of the ambulance service. When I called the ambulance service they said that they only deal with emergencies and that they did not have any ambulances available as there had been a car crash.
I said' OK, I'll put the phone down and then dial 999."
They said. "If you do that we'll have to take her to hospital.'
I said. "I'm sure that the hospital will then complain about their time being wasted."
Reluctantly they agreed to send an ambulance round. This arrived five minutes later. The ambulance men were very helpful and got my mother out of bed very gently. They also told me that they were pleased to come out as they had been hanging around the whole shift and had no call outs. Or to put it simply the ambulance controller was a liar.
Eventually I got a number of people to agree to check on my mother on a regular basis. I fixed the emergency pull ropes and moved the phone so that my mother could get help.
Soon my mother was back to normal
She didn't like my clothes ...
She went over my divorce blow by blow...
She had to go over whether my kids are all drug addicts, drunks and no hopers as none of them have got safe council jobs.
Mum was evidently making a quick recovery.
I must say that the privatised 'Meals on Wheels' service was extremely good. They came in every day and checked my mother was alright.
Interesting the local social services have a statutory duty to provide a proper assessment of my mother to assess needs. Ironically they do not have legal duty to provide the services they deem necessary - but the assessment and advice was what I needed.
There is also a National Fall Framework, which is an obligation on behalf of the hospital and social services to provide the appropriate level of support to avoid the risk of old and vulnerable people injuring themselves from falls.
Lesson learnt: Retire to Bristol not Dorset
But not in Dorset
The compares to the almost complete lack of service offered in part of Dorset. My mother had broken her collarbone. She had gone home and was living in her apartment, which is a retirement complex, with a warden.
OK the first incident was partially my mother's own fault. She had moved the security pull in her bedroom and one morning she was unable to get out of bed and unable to pull the cord. She was unable to attract anyone's attention until late in the afternoon and was unsurprisingly very distressed. I dropped everything and went down to sort my mother out.
I was very surprised that the warden had not checked on her, at least by phone, as she was well aware my mother had been to hospital. The more I got to know the warden the more I became convinced she was totally unsuited to the job. The warden did not call on my mother, or even phone her, to see how she was even though she had been told by at least two residents of my mother's problems. The next morning at 9:30 the next morning the fire alarms went off. They were being tested by a technician. The warden did not think to go around and tell the residents and seemed annoyed when I asked what was going on. When I saw her two days later all I got was a lecture on what she shouldn't do. In fact she said that all her job entailed was calling for an ambulance and letting the ambulance crew in, when an emergency cord was pulled. So much for the £300+ per month my mother and all the other residents pay.
I went to talk to the local social services. My mother is too rich to receive any help. All they would do is give me a list of nursing agencies and nursing homes. They would not advise me on what my mother needed or what type of services the different agencies offered because they cannot recommend any commercial services.
Two days later my mother could not get up. She had moved herself so that she was balanced right on the edge of the bed. I was terrified to help her up as if I got it wrong she call fall. I called the hospital that had treated my mother for advice and they said that I should contact the control room of the ambulance service. When I called the ambulance service they said that they only deal with emergencies and that they did not have any ambulances available as there had been a car crash.
I said' OK, I'll put the phone down and then dial 999."
They said. "If you do that we'll have to take her to hospital.'
I said. "I'm sure that the hospital will then complain about their time being wasted."
Reluctantly they agreed to send an ambulance round. This arrived five minutes later. The ambulance men were very helpful and got my mother out of bed very gently. They also told me that they were pleased to come out as they had been hanging around the whole shift and had no call outs. Or to put it simply the ambulance controller was a liar.
Eventually I got a number of people to agree to check on my mother on a regular basis. I fixed the emergency pull ropes and moved the phone so that my mother could get help.
Soon my mother was back to normal
She didn't like my clothes ...
She went over my divorce blow by blow...
She had to go over whether my kids are all drug addicts, drunks and no hopers as none of them have got safe council jobs.
Mum was evidently making a quick recovery.
I must say that the privatised 'Meals on Wheels' service was extremely good. They came in every day and checked my mother was alright.
Interesting the local social services have a statutory duty to provide a proper assessment of my mother to assess needs. Ironically they do not have legal duty to provide the services they deem necessary - but the assessment and advice was what I needed.
There is also a National Fall Framework, which is an obligation on behalf of the hospital and social services to provide the appropriate level of support to avoid the risk of old and vulnerable people injuring themselves from falls.
Lesson learnt: Retire to Bristol not Dorset
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