BBC article on people dying while waiting for CHC

CaringDaughter

Registered User
Sep 22, 2013
50
0
It upsets me that the media persist in saying the NHS will pay for care, and give the impression that it's all of a person's care. Not true.
Mum had some CHC funding, but all the NHS paid for was toileting four times a day (bowel problems). We were told in no uncertain terms that the absolute maximum was 7.5 hours per day - with two carers needed for moving & positioning, we were granted 7 hours (in other words, a total of 3.5 hours each day where carers were supposed to be in the house).

None of Mum's other complex care needs were met by the NHS - they were all met by me, including the nursing care. I was still waiting for the extra 'sits' they'd promised when Mum died. I feel so sorry for those who have to struggle (I did) and end up having to struggle still after their loved one has died.
 

Jessbow

Registered User
Mar 1, 2013
5,680
0
Midlands
I am not sure what 'waiting for CHC funding' really means.

People that are awarded it are usually pretty poorly anyway, and its not as though you cant have care, one way or another, without it.

Chances are those people would have passed away anyway.
Sorry if that causes controversy but......
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
To some extent I agree with @Jessbow

CHC is Continuing Heath Care

The rationale is that a person is in hospital - or should be admitted - and their medical needs are in access of those that can be provided by community services.
If the person does not require the expensive infrastructure of a hospital the CCG picking up the considerably less expensive tab for care in a nursing home is a good all round deal.

Establishing a medical need is one way of obtaining CHC, the other is by Fast Track which bypasses all the assessment of medical need and is granted by a 'relevant clinician' signing
He or she has a rapidly deteriorating condition and the condition may be entering a terminal phase. For the purposes of Fast Track eligibility this constitutes a primary health need. No other test is required.

People without a medical need that cannot be handled by the community services obviously can die.

Most of the problems arise because of the requirement to treat a medical need, under current legislation social needs are ignored.
 
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Tired Team Leader

Registered User
Aug 2, 2018
24
0
Scotland
There's a line in that article that truly bugs me;

More people are expected to apply for funding in future as a result of an ageing population.

I've been in care a long time, nearly thirty years and yes, the population is aging. When I first started in care getting to eighty was a huge achievement. Now, when one of my residents dies at that age I feel that they have died young.

"Ageing population" get's trotted out all the time, as if it's the populations fault we're living longer. Living longer should be celebrated, surely?

Things seem to get blamed on this ageing population as well. Elderly people are getting the rough end of the deal because they're living longer. It's not a blame game. It's something that, as a country, as a society, we've known is happening. We've known that people are living longer yet all we hear is there are going to be problems providing this and that because of the "ageing population". It's not good enough.
 

Selinacroft

Registered User
Oct 10, 2015
936
0
The article is very misguiding indicating CHC funding is for people with alzheimers. It is so much a post code lottery. Dad had Dementia, end stage kidney failure, pressure sores, skin tears, atrial fibrilation, cataracts, fractured spine, deaf , not eating or drinking properly , regular falls but not unwell enough for the CHC assessor.