MATS team - How absurd is this?

[lesmisralbles]

Keep blasting

Hope you all blast them. Sounds as though they well need blasting far away from the work they claim to be experts in.
I am in despair at some of the things I read on this site. Makes me wonder what kind of country we are becoming. And the values of the people that live in it. We all need to fight against all we see wrong, but know how hard it is. Makes one mentally exhausted.
At 81 am losing some of the energy at the moment, but hope all of you fit and well blast away. lizbet

Lizbet
Keep going. We need people like you.
Mentally exhausted, reading your thread, I don't think so.
Love Barb X

 

[117katie]

On your side, Barb, I will blast and blast and blast.

KT

 

[Clive]

Hi Hendy

Have I ever got my MP to do something? Answer Yes.

They can talk to people that ordinary people cannot get to.

They can get the unmovable to move, and have done this for me.

Have I ever got a final outcome from my MP that is truly beneficial ?

Must admit the answer to that question is still NO ! But I am still working on that (15 months down the line ! )

One thing is certain. In my experience the normal way the MP works is to send a nice sweet return letter to your first correspondence and then expects you to go away. To make any progress you have to go back and persevere. Best way to get any progress is to look them in the eye.

Clive

 

[Tender Face]

Has anyone on this thread(or any other) ever written to an MP and got a result?

Oh yes!!!!! I have managed to get places shut down, licences revoked, funding and resources secured, investigations launched ..... nothing dementia related to date .... but watch this space!!!!!!

Karen, x

 

[TinaT]

My MH Trust also send the memory team to the house to do assessments and they pass on their findings to the Consultant. The assessing team I encountered was made up of made up of a dementia nurse and an occupational therapist. I did find that the occupational therapist was very kind and helpful. He wrote a letter for me confirming that my husband had extreme walking difficulties and which I sent on to the DWP. This resulted in my getting the higher mobility component. He also brought me some specially adapted cutlery as an aid when Ken was eating.

Why, oh why, are services so patchy from one local area to another? Why is this service not standardised to give the same quality service throughout the country? I must say I've never,

ever heard of a 'memory clinic' being run for 7 weeks and where people are expected to attend on a weekly basis?

Because we have so many battles to fight, I have tried hard to 'pick' my fights carefully and tried to ignore the other silly, stupid and irritating people who seem to be part of a 'care package' I haven't the energy and patience now to fight all but the essential battles.

I think if it was me in your busy, hard pressed shoes,I would not stress out about something that sounds so vagely organised it is laughable and which cannot define clearly what obvious benefits there would be for your mum.

xxTinaT

 

[Tender Face]

Part of me entirely agrees TinaT - but then campaigning is part of my relaxation

I believe your husband and my mum are covered by the same Mental Health Trust? .... That itself is a 'conglomerate' of three previously seperate Trusts covering a huge urban and suburban areas who were 'streamlined' in recent years to cut costs .... I suspect ours is not the only part of the world this has happened in...... what I sensed today was CPN stressed herself that she knew they were not meeting the growing demand for services ...... to be honest I hugely applaud and sympathise with staff (in SS too) who are working amongst or against ridiculous 'targets', vast amounts of pen pushing and form filling and seeing little of the service users where their skills really lie ....... I want a CPN to be there to visit mum more often, assess her, give me guidance ..... not co-ordinate groups or courses ..... or have a CPN answer the phone when I call the clinic for advice .... not be presented with an answerphone etc ......

I often find it's the small examples which shed light on the far more serious matters ...... and on a local level I am appalled that the majority of the help mum and I have received has been from charitable quarters ...... (have to be careful now not to completely get on my hobby horse because I think that's the case in so many areas of life where charities plug the gaps that our so called 'welfare state' fail to even patch ......)

On that note, I will put my soapbox to bed for the evening .....

Love, Karen, x

 

[Tender Face]

.... something that sounds so vagely organised it is laughable and which cannot define clearly what obvious benefits there would be for your mum.

Sorry, just to get back to the main point of the thread .... if the MATS team hadn't sent a letter directly to mum she would have been none the wiser whether this group was running or not .... there would have been no sense of her being 'let down' and the situation could have been 'managed' .....

I absolutely agree with previous comments ...... I might not bother fighting for myself - but when I feel mum has been let down

Love, Karen, x

 

[hendy]

Hi Karen, Tina Clive and all

Its been fascinating reading about MATS, They sound about as much use as a don't know what. So at the end of the day Karen your mum is no worse or better off? Is this right? in other words a waste of tax payers money? I'm glad I didn't have to put up with the messing about you and mum have had to. Hope things get sorted soon.
As for MP's etc etc There are so many issues surronding care of the sick and elderly, dementia sufferers and funding for care homes, where would you start Karen( or Clive or Tina) if you were running a campaign purely for relaxation of course?!!(I can think of one or two issues regarding my dad)
regards
hendy

 

[towncrier]

Hi Hendy

Have I ever got my MP to do something? Answer Yes.

They can talk to people that ordinary people cannot get to.

They can get the unmovable to move, and have done this for me.

Have I ever got a final outcome from my MP that is truly beneficial ?

Must admit the answer to that question is still NO ! But I am still working on that (15 months down the line ! )

Clive

One thing is certain. In my experience the normal way the MP works is to send a nice sweet return letter to your first correspondence and then expects you to go away. To make any progress you have to go back and persevere. Best way to get any progress is to look them in the eye.

 

[towncrier]

Pot of money

Hi Hendy

Have I ever got my MP to do something? Answer Yes.

They can talk to people that ordinary people cannot get to.

They can get the unmovable to move, and have done this for me.

Have I ever got a final outcome from my MP that is truly beneficial ?

Must admit the answer to that question is still NO ! But I am still working on that (15 months down the line ! )

Clive

One thing is certain. In my experience the normal way the MP works is to send a nice sweet return letter to your first correspondence and then expects you to go away. To make any progress you have to go back and persevere. Best way to get any progress is to look them in the eye.

I complained at his "surgery" to my MP and local ward councillor, about the complete lack of facilities for Alz patients and carers together in my area. I commented that there is tons of money sloshing round the system, but not going where it is needed, and I got sympathetic tutting, and agreement. But no action so far, so I know who I will not be voting for in future. The pot of money I refer to in the title of this posting is from the local borough solicitor's office, who told me that if money is not spent on a local traffic calming scheme which I am opposing, it can be spent on something else. Apparently the separate townships in our metropolitan borough have this money allocated in advance for whatever scheme they wish to propose. I think they call that devolution of power to the outlying townships, and local democracy. It clearly is not lack of resources.

 

[Tender Face]

Hi Hendy ...... Campaigning - it's another word for venting! ?????? Bashing stuff out on paper sure beats throttling someone!!!!!

Having reflected on this more - I confess I have got my head a bit straighter about 'who is there for who'.... with both Age Concern and Social Services I have found that they have been there as much for me as the carer as for mum .....and have recognised I have other responsibilities in life too .......... everything has been done to ease the pressure on me as well as helping mum, of course .... .... the MATS team are there simply for the patient I guess (I'm not suggesting that is wrong of course!) ...... the fact that I might have seven weeks of extra running around and time off work - when day care and buddying were meant to help me (and has done greatly as well as being hugely beneficial to mum) - well it might seem nothing to most people but - yes I admit - right now I am stressed and this is starting to look like the proverbial 'straw' ........ pathetic as it may be ..... I haven't even dared look yet at how the dates fit with school holidays or other things .... I've done just my usual 'Yes, of course I'll do this for mum ......' and me and mine are back firmly in second place .... (Back to that she has had her expectations raised but it seems it's down to me to make sure she is not let down - why do they NOT forget the bits you'd like them to????)

I am still bewildered as to how the group is going to help mum with her memory ....... given any consultation or anything else I attend with her she has immediately forgotten everything that's been said five minutes later???????? Mum just sees an 'invitation' and doesn't want to miss out .....and if I don't co-ordinate this now for her it will be me and not the MATS team who suffer the consequences!!!!!!! Quite frankly, I feel stitched up!!!!!!!

Sorry I sound miserable and angry - I am!

Karen

 

[jenniferpa]

Karen I understand why you want to do this for your mother, but really, you're only one person and from everything you've said, this would seem to be of small potential benefit to your mother. I know that this will be something that she doesn't forget and so will give you a hard time over, but I really think that this is something you should say "no" to. Let's face it, they sound a sufficient shower that I'm amazed that it hasn't been cancelled yet, so why not lie through your teeth and say it HAS been cancelled?

 

[towncrier]

One thing is certain. In my experience the normal way the MP works is to send a nice sweet return letter to your first correspondence and then expects you to go away. To make any progress you have to go back and persevere. Best way to get any progress is to look them in the eye.

I complained at his "surgery" to my MP and local ward councillor, about the complete lack of facilities for Alz patients and carers together in my area. I commented that there is tons of money sloshing round the system, but not going where it is needed, and I got sympathetic tutting, and agreement. But no action so far, so I know who I will not be voting for in future. The pot of money I refer to in the title of this posting is from the local borough solicitor's office, who told me that if money is not spent on a local traffic calming scheme which I am opposing, it can be spent on something else. Apparently the separate townships in our metropolitan borough have this money allocated in advance for whatever scheme they wish to propose. I think they call that devolution of power to the outlying townships, and local democracy. It clearly is not lack of resources.

Sorry I am not too smart with identifying a quotation to which I am replying. My posting "pot of money" ascribed a statement by Clive to me, my fault. The paragraph which starts "one thing is certain" is the end of Clive's message. Mine starts with "I complained.... "I hope this is clear.

 

[hendy]

Hi Karen
I am rather inclined to go with Jenniferpa. Give yourself and your mum a break. Perhaps look around for other opportunities for mum to get out and about with...(my dad used to go to stroke club which he loved, probably did more to preserve his memory language,social contact etc and they picked him up and dropped him off)
take care
hendy

 

[jackie1]

On the matter of MP's

Yes, mine was brilliant.

Acknowledged my email straight away. Sent my letter to her along with a very stongly worded covering letter to the Head of Social Care and the Secretary of State for Health, kept me updated
while we were waiting replies.

I have received very detailed replies from both and very concerned phone calls from Council Finance and Social Care and whilst they were not able to sort all of my concerns the main one was very quickly sorted - pity it had to take the involvement of the MP.

Jackie

 

[hendy]

Hi Karen and Jackie

Well done you Jackie. I think this thread has many a seasoned expert in campaigning and changing things. ( Is this still a kind of 'blasting'?)Long may it continue.
take care
hendy

 

[Clive]

Quote from Hendy

"As for MP's etc etc There are so many issues surronding care of the sick and elderly, dementia sufferers and funding for care homes, where would you start Karen( or Clive or Tina) if you were running a campaign purely for relaxation of course?!!(I can think of one or two issues regarding my dad)"


Hi Hendy

Karen is absolutely right. A bit of campaigning gives you something to stop you boiling over. Actually going to see your MP gets you out of the house and allows you to say your piece. It is a bit of respite that is reasonable therapeutic and possible beneficial to yourself and the wider community.

Unfortunately MPs are very ?clever people. They work very very short hours and are very ?busy. You usually have to book weeks in advance to see them at their surgery. I suspect this is so that you have cooled down before you meet them.

I find the big problem is just keeping to one subject. It is so so easy to go off on a tangent when there are so many concerns regarding AD sufferers. I chose a subject that either annoys me most, or will be most benefit to your family. Whatever it is it reminds the MP about Alzheimer’s Disease.

My current campaign is about why it is so difficult for anyone with AD to receive NHS Continuing Healthcare, and in particular my mum. So far there have been 3 visits and 6 letters. Progress is being made for mum… but at snails pace.



Karen. You’re going through a rough patch at the moment. My mum always used to say that “it was always darkest before the dawn” and I usually have found she was spot on.

All the best

Clive

 

[Margarita]

I often find it's the small examples which shed light on the far more serious matters ...... and on a local level I am appalled that the majority of the help mum and I have received has been from charitable quarters ...... (have to be careful now not to completely get on my hobby horse because I think that's the case in so many areas of life where charities plug the gaps that our so called 'welfare state' fail to even patch

those charitable quarters do not plug the hole in our area as they main funding come from the local authority .

Not sure how it work in your area , but in our area . social services offer day center to people with AZ , who are self funded or not .

In our ( post code ) we do not get a CPN allocated to people with AZ .

My MH Trust also send the memory team to the house to do assessments and they pass on their findings to the Consultant. The assessing team I encountered was made up of made up of a dementia nurse and an occupational therapist. I did find that the occupational therapist was very kind and helpful.

That how it is in my area .

but now after another drop , they doing assessment at day center .