CHC before discharge?

All about caring
1

Hi
I am looking after this lady, her health is deteriorating, she was in hospital, they just sent her home back to her inadequate care package.

Should they have done a CHC test before discharge, I thought that was the rules, I am her unpaid carer, tried pointing this out to one of the nurses about myself getting help.
I am having to get more involved with the itty bitty things, that is no one else responsabilty, the carers can’t go to the chemist they don’t have time etc.

Would the CHC cover all the things I am doing shopping cooking etc, chemists bills, constant issues, ringing up letters etc.
Someone should be doing all this not me.

2

YES !

The BIBLE on hospital discharges :

Being discharged from hospital - NHS

In short , not by the book , NO discharge !

Main CHC / NHS Continuing Healthcare thread :
https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/all-about-caring/chc-coughlan-grogan-judgements-nhs-contuing-healthcare-nhs-fnc-hospital-discharges-all-under-this-one-thread-35998

If one doesn’t ask , one doesn’t get ?
( Reply to your thread back in September contained the same links to CHC / NHS Continuing Healthcare and hospital dicharges together with almost identical recommendations. )

_https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/tips-and-practical-advice/hospital-discharge-chc-test-34397?p=388143#p388143_

3

I did ask back last year about CHC, upon discharge, I asked and asked telephoned but no one ever got back to me, I didn’t really know who to contact.
There was so little discharge information advice, no lead person to contact I wrote to the doctor on the discharge letter, no one got back to me.
I did contact PALS, but again just peters out, you contact and contact and contact but just no one gets back to you.

I did go to my GP who said helpfully it was nothing to do with me looking after this old lady, contact social services, I did, Social Services just don’t do shopping etc.

I had a carers assessment, the lady who assessed me clearly didn’t have a clue about my town, looking up services that are just unsuitable.

Basically there seems to be an expectation that you should pay for everything, shopping, cleaning, extra care when you need it.

Lady was discharged about a month ago, been to meetings, wrote letters, telephoned, I am just completly ignored, I am not a relative, maybe I need to be a shouty relative.

Like it has been said on this forum CHC is rationed, restricted, if everyone was on CHC would cost a fortune.

So one did ask time and time again was totally ignored.

As far as the hospital is concerned the lady has carers and a wonderful friend that helps, nothing to do with them.

4

Yep … situation as so described clearly shows the REALITY out there !

Short of an upto date Needs Assessment from the LA ( Assuming not done as part of the hospital discharge
process ) , little else to suggest … other than to continue to make waves.

__

Basically there seems to be an expectation that you should pay for everything, shopping, cleaning, extra care when you need it.

One can always apply for Direct Payments from one’s LA … a spin off from any Needs Assessment.

Apply for direct payments - GOV.UK

I will assume that said caree is in receipt of all benefits / allowances out there ?

Under the radar of AGE UK if appropriate ?

Some branches still have volunteers going out into the community to do the very things missing in your situation.

( One of the lady volunteers in my local local food bank does that … I’m in regular contact with her and others.
It really is a tip of an iceberg job … identifying others in need is another. )

5

Basically there is just no more help available, you get basic care package and that’s it.

Its the same story time and time again, you have an old person who can manage, something goes wrong and they need a lot more help.

Its just not available, you are just supposed to do everything on the internet nowadays, banking, shopping etc.

There is a charity that helps going out etc but this lady is basically housebound now.


Needs assessment just covers the care , just doesn’t cover the extras that everyone needs.

I helped her with PIP a couple of years ago so on PIP but by the time paid for care, bills, food, not a lot left.

6

At least on some manors … Worksop a fledgling example … started with the local food bank … not dissimilar to what
was happening during the Miners Strike back in 1984-85 … the natives are now trying to replace the traditional services
that have been lost through Austerity.

A long , hard struggle but … the word is spreading … if you don’t do something , nobody else will ?

What’s even more impressive ?

Not a suit or academic in sight !

7

If it wasn’t for this forum I would have remained in almost complete ignorance of this funding/healthcare maze.

Having read most of the bumph I realise that my mother is, in fact, very lucky indeed to be in the community hospital surrounded by qualified staff round the clock and seen by a consultant gerontologist every week. Her progressive condition is one of the few that often passes CHC needs assessment. She does need nursing care but that means she may not ever be going anywhere again. It feels like grieving upfront. Poor Mum. I wish there was more I could do to help her.

8

Mum is lucky to have a daughter, luckier still that her daughter is near enough to visit regularly, and luckier still that you do actually visit. I’m sure she knows that you love and care for her. Others at the hospital may have no one at all who cares.

9

Thank you, bowling bun. Even if I found a 24 hour nursing service for Mum at home I still couldn’t fix up a private gerontologist for weekly visits/advice, could I? Or daily physio and all the necessary kit etc. I’m looking into it but it seems unfeasible. The local private hospital doesn’t do round-the-clock care. Anyway, Mum was a nurse when the NHS started and neither of us have ever been in favour of private medicine. Except that I’d throw out all previous beliefs if I could bring Mum more comfort now. Sorry, getting all emotional.

10

My mum spent many months in various hospitals, too poorly to come home. One ward manager told me that even if she had a 24 hour carer at home, it still wouldn’t be enough. (She still didn’t qualify for CHC though!!). Your mum is in a similar situation really. Even a good nursing home doesn’t have the services of a weekly consultant!
All I could do was try to do little things so she had constant reminders that I cared about her, little cartons of fruit juice of she fancied something other than water, sweet smelling hand cream, pretty new nightwear, etc. etc.