MY Support Broker

[gaffers]

Hi

My local council is now working in partnership with "my support broker" and have requested that they be included in my wife's next care assessment,

Does anyone here have any experience with them ?

Are they honest ??

Are they any use??

can i trust them???

My wife is badly disabled, and I have stage 3/4 emphysema

our experience with adult social care have not been good to date and I am apprehensive about letting a third party into my home who I know nothing about.

The net is mostly sales pitch with little feedback from people they have dealt with. Can I trust them with something as important as my wife's care??? any info is appreciated

Thank you

Gaffers

[skischool]

Gaffers,i am enclosing a link to disability rights which has a lot of info on 'support brokers'

disabilityrightsuk.org/shor...

I never new of their existence when i cared for my wife but i am sure they can only help oil the wheels if you get my gist...................good luck..........skis

[Hidden]

We have broker for my dad is best option really unless you want to manage pay holiday stuff of carers.

There is option where you could act as broker your self and use agancy's

The don't really like it but this nothing in law says you cant act as one

You never see the broker all you do is work with your social worker and if not happy with care provider can swap and truck.

If you have issues with sloppy care provider can report to quality care commision

[knitter]

Are support brokers independent or directly employed by social services, I can't work it out.

[gaffers in reply to knitter]

Hi knitter

I don't know either "who pays ???" as I don't trust the local social care team I am suspicious of his OR his employers motives.

[skischool]

Gaffers,I think'support brokers'can be used on your behalf to help you make decisions with regard to the purchasing of care packages.Social services award personal health budjets in conjunction with long term care plans for people who are eligible for care in the community.

In the case of my wife,and because joint incomes and savings are taken into account we were not eligible for any financial assistance from social services and i had to pay the full costs of supporting care provision,to be blunt i was paying almost £1000 a month for 2 x 1/2 hr visits a day from 2 care workers,eventually for financial reasons i ended up doing 70% of my wifes care needs myself.

I an sorry this is so long winded but you need to engage with your social worker to discuss there relevance to your own situation as everybodys needs and requirements are individual.It is wrong to assume from the outset that people are out to rip you off but you do need qualified advice before deciding what is best for you and the person requiring care,regards..........skis

[skischool in reply to skischool]

Sorry i forgot to mention that the payments i made were to Social services who organised the visits from a local company,at the time that was the cheapest option,if you were to go directly to a care company the hourly rate of pay would more than likely be even higher.One of the reasons care companys are abandoning social services is that they claim they can not cover their costs and make sufficient profits to run a business with the hourly rate that social services pay them,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,skis

[gaffers]

My wife and I don't have to pay for our services. as for a social worker we haven't seen one of those for two or three years, Dispite the fact that my wife is severely disabled and can barley walk unaided, we have a stair lift and disabled shower and no support.

My wife receives 45 min care per day from the social services lol they claim that I should do everything else, my severe emphysema not withstanding,

we were abandoned during the last drive to cut money from the social care budget. I don't trust the local SS and I fail to see why someone should be paid £165 from the tax payer to write a care plan for 45 min per day .We already have a charity that deals with all the payments/insurance/& employment responsibility,

my wife has been ill for 20 years we are admittedly a little isolated but we have been looking after each other for a long time and do ok within our limitations

why do we need a newly trained and frankly amateur adviser?

After years of neglect and making our lives as unplesent as possible social services suddenly want to do us a favour and look after our happiness and well being ???

I may be paranoid but I find the whole thing a bit suspicious