Re-enablement benefit - urgent question

Hi,

This is my first time here. Thank you for any help.

My mum has had a shoulder replacement after a fall. The fall was 2 months ago. She’s been in a home focussed on rehab and she’s now ready to leave. She is still a little confused but has been assessed as having capacity.

My sister and I are very anxious to get mum out ASAP, partly because we are sure she’ll do better at home (we will be here to support her) and partly because it’s Christmas next week. The social services in the home are saying she has potential and so is entitled to up to 6 weeks re-enablement support (not paid for by mum) but they’re also saying they may not be able to get it in place before Christmas. They are therefore suggesting applying for long-term care instead, even though mum is not likely to need care for more than 6 weeks and even though mum would have to pay for that from the start.

My question is this. We have asked whether we can take mum home and the short-term care package follow us, to start when available (maybe next week) but we’ve been told that isn’t possible. SS have said that as soon as mum leaves the home any application for short-term care is automatically cancelled.

Does anybody know whether this is true? We’re feeling increasingly helpless and can’t help seeing this as all about saving money to them.

Thanks for any help.

Hi Shirley.

A hospital discharge … followed by 6 weeks or so free " Re-ablement care " ?

So far , so good ?


SS have said that as soon as mum leaves the home any application for short-term care is automatically cancelled.

WRONG !

As part of the hospital discharge , a support plan must be put in place … and NOT just in the short term.

The BIBLE on hospital discharges … who does what :

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/hospitals/being-discharged-from-hospital/

An extract :

__

What’s meant by minimal or complex discharge?

If the discharge assessment shows you’ll need little or no care, it’s called a minimal discharge.

If you need more specialised care after leaving hospital, your discharge or transfer procedure is referred to as a complex discharge.

If you need this type of care, you’ll receive a care plan detailing your health and social care needs.

You should be fully involved in this process.

A care plan should include details of :
the treatment and support you’ll get when discharged.

who will be responsible for providing support and how to contact them.

when and how often support will be provided.

how the support will be monitored and reviewed.

the name of the person co-ordinating the care plan.

who to contact if there’s an emergency or things do not work as they should.

information about any charges that will need to be paid (if applicable).

What does the care plan for your mother have to say for itself ?

__

They are therefore suggesting applying for long-term care instead

Is CHC / NHS Continuing Healthcare a factor here ?

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

Thanks so much for replying Chris!

I’ll go and read the links, but in the meantime here is a little more info.

I don’t know whether it matters but mum is not in hospital any more. She was in hospital A and then hospital B and was then discharged to a ‘home’ in the locality which takes people who need physio before they’re able to return home. She’s been there about a month. She didn’t have dementia prior to her fall but she has suffered from post-operative delirium since. It’s almost gone now, but a formal capacity assessment was carried out this week at the home because at the time mum was most confused there would have been a question about capacity.

If there is a care plan it has never been mentioned to us. Mum unfortunately broke her other shoulder earlier in the year. That time she didn’t need an operation and was discharged from hospital within days with a care package which didn’t need to continue after 6 weeks. My sister and I assumed this time it would be the same i.e. she would leave and there would be no SS involvement (at all, or at least after the 6 weeks, assuming it’s enough). No care plan was mentioned to us that time either.

We really just want to get her out as we’re sure she’ll be better off here, and we’d like it to happen now as (i) she’s ready to go and (ii) it’s Christmas next week. We don’t know whether we’ll all have another.

The bit we’re unsure about is the SS’s claim that she can’t continue to process the short-term care application she has already made (she said she made it y/day morning) if we take mum home to wait for a carer to become available. I have to go in an speak to them about it later today, which is very difficult when I don’t know what the legal realities are :frowning:

Thank you again for helping. I’ll go and read those links now.

EDIT: forgot to say continuing healthcare isn’t relevant here.

Thanks Shirley.

No change since my first posting.

That care plan is essential.

Should NOT have been discharged from hospital … yet another , potential , unsafe one … the bane of this forum !

Another regular contributor to this forum has created a thread especially for this type of situation for the forthcoming holiday period :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/tips-and-practical-advice/beware-the-pre-christmas-discharge-season-39256?p=420091#p420091

Another thread with the " History " of unsafe hospital discharges as more background :
https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/new-to-the-forum/please-tell-us-about-your-experiences-of-hospital-discharge-31980?hilit=chc%20rstioning

Our name for it … THE DUMPSTER THREAD … as you will read why.

An interesting thought … what would have happened if your mother lived alone with no supporting family or friends ???

Mother … on the radar of AGE UK ?

Always recommended … never know when your mother will need their help / advice ?

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/

I would suggest that mum kept her room at the home but you took her out for the day, and then she goes back to the home at night. This will then give you a much better idea of the support which she needs, and what she can, cannot do.

It also means that you are not burning all your bridges!!!

Thank you very much, both!

I’ve just had a call to tell me the short-term package has now been arranged, for tomorrow :smiley: Please may it be true… I won’t really believe it until we actually leave!

P.s. as to what would have happened had we not been here, I think there’s a very good chance she wouldn’t have survived hospital. They’d have assumed she was always confused. It was really only our pushing, pushing, pushing and ‘forcing’ her to eat and drink (the staff didn’t have time) that got her from A to B, from B to C and now, finally, from C to home. Heaven help those with no relatives able and willing to speak up for them :S

Given the time of the year , be VERY wary !

Thank you, and we will. We’re luckily not in the position of so many others who will be reliant on the care actually turning up. The equipment is already here (from the first break earlier in the year) and my sister and I can provide the care if carers don’t turn up over the holiday period. Though mum has been issued with a zimmer in fact we’re sure she doesn’t actually need it - she’s carrying it along in front of her :open_mouth: and doing corners on one wheel! She really does just need to get back to her familiar surroundings now, and stop being woken at 6am for meds she can appropriately take at 9am.

The only thing that’s still potentially an issue is medication but I’ve already been in touch with the GP (awaiting a ring back) in case we’re not discharged with sufficient for the holidays.

I’m very grateful to those of you who read and responded. Forums like this keep all of us going :slight_smile: