Hi everyone.
I'm a little bit shocked again.
I received a call from a SW, he said they have set in place the SW team that will deal with us from now on. A female SW will come to mum's in the morning to do an initial care assessment. He said to me that he'd spoken to mum and asked how she was, what she had been doing today so far, and explained about the assessment. He said, "She isn't keen on us being involved, which is normal enough." I agreed, mum being raised by her Victorian grandmother, made her view SS as 'charity for the hopeless', as her gran had once worked in a poor house, run by the then equivalent of modern SS.
Anyway, he said she is an extraordinarily polite lady and dignified lady (I didn't have the heart to tell him that one trait I inherited from mum was being overly polite when I'm angry - the nicer I am, the faster my kids skedaddle!
). She also told him about the housework and shopping she has done today
My heart sank at hearing this - then comes the shock "However, I have been a SW for more than 30 years, specialising in dementia care, and it was obvious during the call that she has very limited reasoning, and I'm sorry that it has taken this long for us to be involved and get you and your mum some help. Having read the notes made based on what you have told my colleagues, your GP should have done a home visit the minute you called with concerns after her fall last year, and when she refused the follow-up CT scan, ECG, and general check-up after the fall, we should have been informed. It appears they have let you slip through the net and left you to cope on your own, which you no longer have to do"
I had been reading comments about SWs and doctors falling for the front others have put up when being assessed and wasn't very hopeful after the last year, but I'm pleasantly shocked that even over the phone, they can appreciate how mum really is.
And there was I, all ready to email bomb Hazel Blears, our local MP whose mum has dementia and is 'championing' raising awareness. I'm almost sorry I can't give her what for now - she isn't exactly popular round these parts