I hope this note I have written doesn’t offend anyone as I am telling my circumstances and trying not to offend at the same time. Please understand my circumstances before you judge me.
Hello I am a Carers Uk member and I have been looking after my sister for 3 years now. My name is Declan. I have been reading your fact sheet about assessments. When I first agreed to take care of my sister, her name is L, the social worker assessed that she only needs two and a half hours per day for a career to come and dress and shower her in the morning. So 1 hour to do that. Then half an hour in the afternoon to change her nappy. Then one more hour in the evening to get her ready for bed and give her a shower. I do not think we are getting enough help. How many hours per day am I entitled for L’s care. I will now explain her condition for you to better understand.
L suffered a cardiac arrest in August 2018 and her oxygen supply to her brain stopped for 40 minutes as it took that long for the ambulance to get there. L now has no memory of her childhood and really only knows me my partner and her daughter to look at. She also has no memory after 5 minutes and forgets everything that has just happened. L is also double incontinant. Her brain does not know when she needs to go to the toilet so she has to wear nappies all day and all night. Sometimes in the night or early morning she has a poo and then she is uncomfortable and does not realise what she has done by doing a poo and puts her hands down and wipes it all over the bed sheets and anything to then get her hands clean.
I feel we need to get L assessed again and am I able to get more help with care during the day and at night time after she has gone to bed. We get up 3 times in the night to take Lisa to the toilet as if not the whole bed gets soaked or worse with her doing a poo, like I have just explained.
On page 12 of the fact sheet for assessments it says:
Due to care and support needs, is the person you care for unable to meet two or more desired goals or outcomes?
The desired outcomes are:
Eat properly and maintain proper nutrition.
Maintain personal hygiene
Manage toilet needs
Dress appropriately
Able to use and move about the home safely
Maintain there home in a fit and proper state
Maintain and develop relationships with family and friends
Take part in education, training, work or volunteering
Be able to participate in social activities, hobbies and make use of public transport and local services
Look after any children they have responsibilities for.
In the above list L is not able to do any of them points apart form being sociable, being sociable for L only lasts for 5 minutes then she repeats herself. Can I also ask if I employ my own carer how many hours will social services let have. I have spoken to the carer who looks after L and if I can get her more hours to look after L then she said I could employ her direct.
I am in desperate need for some advice and help as if this caries on with out change then I will have to stop caring for L and have her put in a care home. That is the last thing I want to do but I can’t carry on the way things are.
Regards
Declan
edited by moderator to remove personal information