Our stepmother had Dad sectioned December 11th last year purely because he was an embarrassment to her. He was in the mental hospital at Christmas, which broke our hearts. The staff, Drs and psychologists all deemed that the order was a gross over-reaction and that the mental hospital was not the place for Dad. He was moved to another mental hospital nearer to his home in order that it would be easier for his wife to visit. An unnecessary move we thought. In April of this year he was moved again to what we thought would be his "forever" home, a residential care home again around the corner from his own home. He settled here very well and had a good rapport with the staff, his care was good and we did not have too many worries. Recently he has suffered a series of falls and was admitted to hospital on August 26th with a "catastrophic" brain injury to the left side of his brain. Surgery was out of the question as he was deemed to be too frail, and we were told there was a mountain to climb and Dad probably wouldn't make it. However, 2 months later he is gradually improving, he hasn't been out of bed for the past 2 months and had no physio so he has a lot of muscle wastage and we do not know if he is able to walk. Because the hospital have said he is medically fit and they can do no more for him and he is bed-blocking he was discharged on Monday to a local nursing home. We have visited twice and not one member of staff has introduced themselves to us or passed comment on how dad is settling etc. We are alarmed already at the total lack of interaction and hospitality. There is to be a meeting next week to assess Dad for continuing healthcare and NHS- funded nursing care with a view to him remaining in this nursing home. We cannot see what "nursing" needs Dad has to provoke such an assessment, he needs help with feeding, has to be washed etc. but does not have complex needs which( in our opinion) require the services of a nurse. We are permitted to attend the meeting and have some input, I would be grateful if anyone can tell me on what grounds Dad may be considered to have nursing needs and so will not be returned to his original care home. We want to say and do the best for Dad and what we have seen at the "nursing" home is nowhere near as good as the care he received in the "care" home
confused.
- Thread starter thefixer
- Start date
My father was admitted to hospital in April after contracting Sepsis. In total he was in hospital for 3 months and the hospital were very keen to see him discharged after that amount of time. Whilst his physical health had improved by that time, he was not mobile and considered at risk of falling. We had a couple of multi agency meetings where the health professionals insisted he could not be discharged home (and rely on social care alone). As part of these discussions I asked for clarity about how far he needed nursing as opposed to personal/social care. There didn't appear to be any hard and fast rules, but in his case it came down to the fact that he was doubly incontinent, had high risk of falls and was not able to take his medications reliably without supervision. In the end he qualified for NHS funding for his nursing care, but not for continuing healthcare.
If there is to be a meeting to assess him for CHC health care or NHS-funded nursing care, people who deal with these issues regularly have clearly decided that he may qualify, so a priority is for you to forget about your own view that he does not need nursing care. Wait and see what they say when you attend the meeting.
I think many of us find that it's difficult to learn all we need to know about CHC in a short time. This is why we have a thread that might help people in your situation:
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?86059-CHC-(Continuing-Healthcare)-support-thread
If you have any queries about specific issues that may arise, please post them on the above thread ans I'm sure people will try and offer you help.
