I’m new here - my partner had a severe brain injury in 2017 and has since been living at home with a full time care team.
Unfortunately due to medical needs and mental health difficulties with my daughter I applied with the CQC last year for a nursing home placement in Bristol and South Glos, I stupidly thought it would be straightforward but am slowly losing my marbles - the CQC are so slow and drip feeding me information when I can get hold of someone there.
I’ve tried contacting around 15 homes myself to get info and help speed up the process, however they say either they can’t speak to me and only speak to the CQC, and the others, although they are nursing homes can’t accept his application even if they have vacancies. What exactly classifies as a ‘nursing’ home.
He is full hoist, non verbal, incontinent and PEG fed and meds.
I am starting to despair that nowhere will have space or will even accept his care and my daughter is going downhill with the living arrangements at home. Apologies if I sound selfish as we do get care however its no been without many difficulties at home for 3 years.
Any help / advice / guidance would be lovely thanks.
Jo
Dear Joanne
I’m sorry to hear you are struggling to sort out the help needed for your partner, I would suggest you contact our helpline and see if they can point you in the right direction or give you further advice. They can be contacted on 0808 808 7777 from Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm or you can contact us by email (advice@carersuk.org)
Just to let you know we are also running currently running a series of online weekly meet ups for carers to get together and chat informally. Please have a look at the page and see if you would be interested in coming along, its a great way to get support and advice from other carers who know what you are dealing with Online meetups | Carers UK
I’m not quite sure why you are dealing with the CQC - they usually only inspect care homes and the like (or do you mean your local CCG (clinical commissioning group)?
A nursing home has to have a fully-qualified registered nurse on duty at all times (as opposed to a care home, which doesn’t).
Does your husband qualify for CHC (NHS continuing healthcare), or been assessed for same? If not, would he be self-funding or funded by your local authority? If the latter, has the LA done a needs assessment?
Alphabet soup is the bane of our lives! All those letters instead of easy names! No one ever explains them properly, do they? It took me years to get right and they kept changing then, which didn’t help.
As your husband had a severe brain injury, it seems likely that he receives NHS Continuing Health Care, which is administered via local Clinical Commissioning Groups (and even that is changing at the moment but I won’t go there) who commission health services in the area. The big problem is that people with severe brain injury can have very specific needs, and certainly in my area there are only two or three in a less than 30 mile radius of my home. It’s possible that your CCG is struggling to find a local placement, or one that would still be in daily travelling distance. One individual had such specific needs that a family had to travel almost 200 miles each way when visiting. It’s very possible that they’re struggling to find somewhere, partly due to all the recent covid issues, which has all but closed some homes to new intake.
I suggest you contact the Helpline, as mentioned above, but as sunnydisposition says, contact your MP. They can get answers where you can’t.