Careers from social services

[Courgettegrower]

We have been allocated 6 weeks care, 2 people 4 times a day. Has anyone any advice on living/dealing with this?

[Diane831]

We didn’t have that much care coming in. I had one carer for 1. 1/2 hours in the morning to work with me to help Geoff. But get your ground rules sorted out first. They will have limited time and May rush if they don’t understand your situation. Make sure they know how you want them to talk to you both and what to call you. What actual tasks do you need support with? Washing dressing/ toileting/ transferring/ feeding. If you get the correct help life will be easier and at least there is someone to talk to for a few minutes!!

[Diane831 in reply to Diane831]

And have the MSA Leaflets for them to read and tell them that it’s ok if they haven’t heard of it! Neither had you before it barged its way uninvited into your lives!

[Courgettegrower]

Thanks

[IvyRose64]

We had 2 carers 4 times a day for Al. You should get a call or visit from the care services manager to discuss your needs. We were very happy with our care providers, the girls who came in were lovely, very professional and friendly. If I was concerned or unhappy at all I contacted the care provider and had it resolved. Only drawback we had was the inconsistency with who we got but that’s unavoidable as they work shifts and part time. It did also mean that although I saw to Al’s needs the rest of the time we were able to keep our relationship as husband and wife separate from that of carer and caree.

[Courgettegrower in reply to IvyRose64]

Thanks. The care company’s assessor visited this morning. Lack of communication meant Ian arrived home at 9 45, the

Assessor was told 12 o’clock! Ian arrived in his hospital pyjamas in a wheelchair. It later emerged that hospital discharge stated he should arrive on a stretcher and be put to bed! The assessor is concerned that the Sara Stedy is not going to work so now we have the manager due to do more assessing! If the answer is ‘no’ a hoist will be needed!

[IvyRose64 in reply to Courgettegrower]

I had a similar thing with Al. Even though we live in an apartment we ended up in separate rooms as he had to have a hospital bed and a hoist. These didn’t fit in our bedroom so I made space in the living room for them. In the end this worked out better as the floor is hardwood which made mooching the hoist easier and cleaning was much easier too. Hope all works out well for you.

[phamwales]

HIyou can change the number of people and the time as long as the total time remains as allocated. I found this really useful as the 4x a day was no real help to me. I asked if we could make it x2 a day and for double the time. It was a good change and they were helpful in reorganising it.

Peter

[Courgettegrower in reply to phamwales]

Thanks. We are still trying to work out what will be best