NHS communication with person in care home.

[mancmum]

My dad is in a lovely care home who treat him with kindness and dignity. They pass on his letters etc to him. However, I am worried about communications regarding his health and in particular an operation he is expecting. I have as a protection not given the hospital his new address but have changed his address with his GP. They need to know where he is physically located for any community care that might be necessary. However I asked the GP if, to avoid any problems with NHS letters being lost in his room in his sea of newspapers, if they could make his address Care Home, Care Home Lane (myname), Town, Postcode so that care home staff could filter out important medical communications. Prior to his decline in capacity he wrote to the GP asking the surgery to consult with me and notify me of issues relating to his health and welfare and giving me permission to see his records.

I asked. The GP surgery asked me to write in. I wrote in. They didn't reply. Today I called in and they asked me to write in. They confirm that the EMIS system can accept a change of address so I can't see why they can't do something along the lines I suggest. I feel this is an issue of dignity for those with dementia because the only other way of resolving it for care home staff to open all the letters and clearly I don't want this happening.

Has anyone else found a solution to this problem. I won't be the first person to have encountered this.

 

[Amethyst59]

Slightly different, but on Monday I collected my husband from his home to take him to a hospital appointment. I couldn’t find the letter anywhere, but had the text on my phone detailing the appointment. As we left his home the receptionist handed me the letter which was dated the 10th May!! They had held onto it, until the day of the appointment. It must have been opened, for them to know the contents. Luckily I had not wasted too much time looking for it at my house, as I know the letters are not usually needed at the appointment.
It was annoying though, that it had been there for over a month and neither he, nor I, knew it was there.

 

[Sirena]

It might be easier to ask the GP and hospital to send you a copy of all his medical letters. That's what I did for my mother, and it worked okay(ish). The GP was no problem (they also emailed me as necessary) but hospital departments were a bit random - I usually got a copy of appointment letters, but not always. That's NHS admin for you.

I have financial LPA but not health LPA, but that didn't seem to matter in terms of them agreeing to send me copies of letters.