Hello

Hi, new member here. I moved into a mobile home to support my elderly in-laws around 15 months ago. Their care needs have increased dramatically since then. At the moment I work 4 days on/4 days off. During the 4 days on I would normally expect to work 40 - 44 hours. The 4 days off are spent running backwards and forwards between mine and my in-laws home. I’m usually there 6 -8 times a day making meals and drinks and doing a few household jobs (although they have a cleaner for the majority of that). I also shop for them and collect their prescriptions. My husband is self employed and luckily his business is only a couple of miles down the road as he has to do their meals etc on the days I’m working.
I got in touch with the carers team a couple of weeks ago who passed us on to someone with a view to getting an adult care assessment. Unfortunately, they were quite unhelpful and we’re not getting the assessment. In fact they can’t help at all unless we can specify exactly what it is we need - that’s not easy when we don’t know whats available. I thought the whole point of an assessment was to determine that. The whole care system feels like a locked building that you can’t enter without a secret code!

Go to the council website, search for “Adult Social Care Complaints” and make a formal complaint. The Care Act is clear. The council must first make a Needs Assessment, to see if someone needs help, look at what help that person needs, work out how much it costs, and then arrange it. Deciding someone doesn’t need help on the basis of a relative’s phone call is not acceptable.
The easiest way to look at needs, is to look at what they can do for themselves, and what you are doing for them because they can’t do it themselves.
Start a list from now onwards, a diary with dates and times, even just for a day, will really help.
Share it with us and we will see what might help, based on our own experiences.