Hi, not been on here for a while as mum has been in a care home for nearly 2 years now and really settled! She has Alzheimers and vascular dementia. Two weeks ago she had a massive stroke which has left her paralised down the left hand side, and has been in the local hospital since, on the stroke ward. They are now saying she is "stable" and that they are ready to move her. She is not going to be given rehabilitation as she is 90, suffers from dementia and has also made no or very little improvement in the 2 weeks. She has difficulty swallowing and only manages 2 to 4 teaspoons of thickened liquid /or soup at a time, she has no movement in her left side and has no sitting posture/control. The prognosis is that it is very unlikely that she will make any great improvement over the coming months or years. To this end they are looking to place her in a nursing home ( the care home she was in doesn't provide nursing care) and social services have been informed. She was self funding in her care home but we have asked for a Continuing Healthcare assessment. The hospital has said the social worker will organise this. Has anyone had any experience of this, of can anyone offer any advice please
Continuing Healthcare assessment
- Thread starter Dillie
- Start date
Hi there is quiet a lot of info on a site called https://caretobedifferent.co.uk/ which was started by a lady called Angela Sherman,I sign up for the e mails and it gives a lot of information and tips
There is a very long thread devoted to Continuing Health Care https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/chc-continuing-healthcare-support-thread.86059/
It sounds as if the hospital maybe trying to dodge some of their responsibility, there will be a discharge procedure which will almost certainty include using the initial checklist.
Ask for a copy of the procedure from either the ward manager or PALS https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-qu...son-service/#how-do-i-contact-my-nearest-pals and make sure they stick to it.
It sounds as if the hospital maybe trying to dodge some of their responsibility, there will be a discharge procedure which will almost certainty include using the initial checklist.
Ask for a copy of the procedure from either the ward manager or PALS https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-qu...son-service/#how-do-i-contact-my-nearest-pals and make sure they stick to it.
Hi Dillie,
We are going through a similar situation with mum. She was admitted to hospital and after 5 weeks she was ready for discharge, and although we wanted her back home it couldn't really happen.
The hospital social worker had spoken to the nursing staff and physios who all said that because of her condition she would not be recommended for rehab and after discussions with us the social worker looked at care homes. They couldn't take her as she was high need (like your mum) and so she was discharged to a nursing home whilst she was being assessed. Whilst she is being assessed then the local authority will fund her place. We have an appointment next week with Continuing Health Care for the assessment. From what I understand of the hospital discharge system (and I may be wrong, so apologies if I am) is that they cannot discharge your Mum until there is a care plan in place - in your Mum's case to a nursing home and I think the hospital social worker will do the arranging - it may be worth trying to have a word with them yourself.
Sorry can't be more helpful
We are going through a similar situation with mum. She was admitted to hospital and after 5 weeks she was ready for discharge, and although we wanted her back home it couldn't really happen.
The hospital social worker had spoken to the nursing staff and physios who all said that because of her condition she would not be recommended for rehab and after discussions with us the social worker looked at care homes. They couldn't take her as she was high need (like your mum) and so she was discharged to a nursing home whilst she was being assessed. Whilst she is being assessed then the local authority will fund her place. We have an appointment next week with Continuing Health Care for the assessment. From what I understand of the hospital discharge system (and I may be wrong, so apologies if I am) is that they cannot discharge your Mum until there is a care plan in place - in your Mum's case to a nursing home and I think the hospital social worker will do the arranging - it may be worth trying to have a word with them yourself.
Sorry can't be more helpful
Thank you, thats a great help. The hospital discharge department have been to see her and they are going to do a "continuing healthcare checklist" today, then they are looking to place her somewhere while they do the assessment. Nobody has mentioned a careplan, i will ask tonight when i visit . thanks
Hi my mum has a series of seizures last December & ended up in hospital.
She has both vascular dementia & Alzheimers. She was moved to an assessment unit smaller hospital where they thought they could rehabilitate her. They were very wrong in that thought & it quickly became apparent that the seizures had severely declined her health.
There was a pre CHC assessment meeting which she passed to go into the full CHC meeting.
This involved myself, hospital staff & my mum’s social worker who fought very hard for her to be accepted for CHC funding to such an extent that I thought he was going to come to blows with the CHC assessor who is a special nurse assigned to this role. She assessed my mum for 45 minutes.
Unfortunately, the bar to receiving CHC is set extremely high so the likelihood could be that your mum will not qualify for it but may qualify for the much lower funding for FNC full nursing care which is what happened to my mum.
The staff were happy for me to choose a nursing home which I did as long as it accepted FNC & there was a place for her & so I was able to put my mum in a home of my choosing & then moved house ( I rent!) to be closer to her & to her house which I look after.
She has both vascular dementia & Alzheimers. She was moved to an assessment unit smaller hospital where they thought they could rehabilitate her. They were very wrong in that thought & it quickly became apparent that the seizures had severely declined her health.
There was a pre CHC assessment meeting which she passed to go into the full CHC meeting.
This involved myself, hospital staff & my mum’s social worker who fought very hard for her to be accepted for CHC funding to such an extent that I thought he was going to come to blows with the CHC assessor who is a special nurse assigned to this role. She assessed my mum for 45 minutes.
Unfortunately, the bar to receiving CHC is set extremely high so the likelihood could be that your mum will not qualify for it but may qualify for the much lower funding for FNC full nursing care which is what happened to my mum.
The staff were happy for me to choose a nursing home which I did as long as it accepted FNC & there was a place for her & so I was able to put my mum in a home of my choosing & then moved house ( I rent!) to be closer to her & to her house which I look after.
I think you may be right and this will be the case for us, her consultant did say that he believes she has a case for full continuing health care but i also understand it is not down to him and is difficult to get. at the moment she is very confused, cannot swallow properly, still on a drip 3 weeks on, cannot sit without full support and tilting back, has no movement on her leftside at all and is doubly incontinent, she also has heart ahrrithmia ( cant spell it) and therefore need bloods checking for the treatment. think all we can do is see what happens
I know it is so awful - I hope your mum qualifies though. She sounds worse than my mum to be fair.
My mum was judged to have no capacity, would be a vulnerable adult if she lived by herself, needs helps with getting dressed, resistant to personal care & hygiene, would not be able to walk without a frame. She has heart & kidney disease, arthritis, rheumatism, osteoporosis, macular degeneration in 1 eye, cellulitis in both legs plus the dementia & still didn’t qualify!
So frustrating, you mum sounds like she is very similar to mine, i hope you and her are settled now, they have just transfered My mum to a community hospital run by the same NHs trust, so will see what happens now xx
That sounds par for the course @Dillie & what happened with my mum.
My mum is sort of settled. Her memory is totally shot to pieces & sometimes she is ok, mostly she is not & wants to get out of the care home lately. But this is common.
We just make the excuse that the doctor wants her there & that’s that xx
