The situation with social services and the non-delivery of a support plan following my 2018 carers assessment has been ‘picked up’ finally. How far this will go considering social services has pushed it to another linked organisation, is anyone’s guess.
They are obviously still denying any wrong in all this. Despite being the organisation who conducts support plans for carers. It is unclear whether the contractually linked organisation should have done this as part of their agreement with the Council.
Notably, as social services were made aware I hadn’t received a support plan as a carer. Instead of ignoring my communications and pretending they hadn’t heard or understood me, they should of ‘signposted’ me to the other organisation who appear to be on the receiving end now to explain.
At the actual time of all this taking place, I was told social services deal with the carer’s assessment and after it is completed, to decide whether there are any ‘needs’. When I asked I was mainly ‘blanked’ by both an allocated social worker and his upline management. Including a general manager who is no better than the former one, who did nothing but ignore me.
At one stage, I was subjected to the ‘practitioner’ of the service emailing me telling me I was eligible for any assistance, as a carer…and then deleting the said email, he’d written. This was a practitioner who was continuing the wishes of both former and the present general manager and that was regardless of my situation and based on the direction of himself and whoever else was involved in it.
It was mainly based on discrimination towards the care I have to provide for my son and because of social services operating a zero-tolerance of clients with low functioning autism, especially with other complex disorders.
For example, Social services hold ‘false beliefs’ of seizures not being part of epilepsy and also that no-one has the need for 24-hour care and these are just small aspects, of the overall rigidity shown by social services employees, towards service needers such, as my son. Social services clearly have adopted its own set of rules and those do exclude, any guidance of the Care Act.
Social services have already ‘looked at’ the matter and apparently ‘didn’t ignore me’. However, they did ignore me and also delayed any proper responses. To keep sending me ‘a copy’ of my completed carers assessment, instead of a support plan was actually ignoring the issue. The service pretended they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for a written outcome but that’s something that would be reasonably expected following completing a carer’s assessment.
At one stage, I received an email to say I had been sent an outcome but then I had stated I hadn’t. That too became a problem to be ignored, by the service, including a social worker who had ‘been allocated’.
By the way, being allocated doesn’t necessarily mean acting for that person or acting in that person’s interests or even seeing that person. All it means is the social services are covering themselves by ‘allocating’ a really unaccessible member of staff to a case.
There’s probably a name for this being done by the service…such as ‘a sleeping allocation’. All I know is, it’s a case where the ‘client’ becomes a bottom of the list one and that also applies to informal carers attached to the client, where they will also reside as last or no priority. That is until it’ll be expected to ‘justifying the social worker’s job’. For example, to be available to complete paper assessments that only consist of a social worker’s decision, which are always based on their own views which disregard anything said by a carer, anyway.
It is a pointless task which really gets nowhere fast and in fact courses, stagnation and none movement towards support or ever getting it.
It’s the unwillingness to listen or acknowledge anything which may cost the service any money whatsoever. There are no reviews of packages which are losing value to the point of losing the ability to utilise the amount of care really needed.
It doesn’t matter what is said either as once a package is in place and has been in place for 7 years, it never goes up alongside the cost of future care, which goes up each and every year. The amount remains the same regardless and there’s no flexibility.
117 aftercare packages shouldn’t have to be ‘topped up’ yet only 3 years ago I was told to top it up then and when the amount wasn’t functioning the package properly. Direct payments are meant to be flexible…meaning they are supposed to cover the type of care and a choice of how the care is administered. The truth is, my own son’s package isn’t enough to allow a care agency unless he has less than half the care, even though that would not be a manageable solution.
It was one thing telling me to top-up an agency at the time and quite another when recourses would not allow this. Trying to speak to ‘an allocated’ social worker about this was like talking to a brick wall as I found myself being treated to ‘the ignoring method’ straightaway. In fact, I never did receive an answer to this matter, at any time, within the past 3 years.
I have not had a proper answer to any issue big or small from social services.
Right now, they have deallocated any services but they have actually been deallocated the whole time and I’m talking about during the entire time my son has been on a joint solutions ‘package’ for 117 aftercare.
Social services are meant to be ‘the lead’ organisation and that is because Health has unfairly refused full continuing healthcare. The worst thing is health are not sharing responsibility, by withholding healthcare or specialist services. They currently or I should say one sad individual is withholding services…on the basis of his attempt to force community nurses through the door.
They are not coming through my door, as I am not even allowed to see full files when they are expecting to visit me in effect. It’s not that I haven’t formally asked to view the files because I have.
What I have viewed so far is by no means a complete set of files and the legal representative has ignored my communication since he sent a load of completely blacked out file writings.
This matter has to be resolved.