Respite's finally sorted, but...

[JMU]

I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen. I made a fuss a couple of months ago that resulted in a visit from the SW who said he would order two spots of respite for me, for two separate weeks when I am off from work. Then I didn't hear from him again. I sent him a polite reminder a few weeks ago and then waited. Finally last week, a week before the respite was supposed to happen he e-mailled me to say he had found somewhere and I needed to take dad to see it first to check it was okay.
So last Saturday we went round the care home. It is just a five minute walk away, and a place I already have history with as once upon a time (20 years ago) my mother worked there as a nurse. Lets just say if she still worked there I would have turned the place down! But the place has changed hands since and I was actually pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. It's a beautiful Victorian building, hotel-like inside, and the gardens are lovely. Even dad didn't seem disturbed at the thought of staying there- I think he was enchanted by the gardens and the free cake!
So I immediately contacted the social worker to give the go ahead.
Then silence.
Friday morning I get a phone call from the council saying they have been asked to do a financial assessment for the respite and they will call back next week.
"Thats okay, but dad's supposed to be in respite next week!"
He advised I ring the social worker. I ended up leaving a message with someone for him to get back to me, telling them to make sure he rings me on my mobile as I am taking a 'very rare' day out.
No phone call.
Eventually I get home at 4.30 to find he has left a message on the house phone to say the respite is confirmed (hooray) and he will send me an e-mail with more details.
So I look up my e-mails. It doesn't say much, just to get into contact with the home to find what dad needs to take. I bought name tape just in case and have that to look forward to over the weekend. I have no idea how many clothes he needs to take, or whether I should pack things like his long-handled shoe horn.
Then I read the last line of the e-mail:
"Please be aware that I am no longer your father's social worker and if you need anything contact the council."
Great. We lost his CPN a few months back. Now it seems we don't have a social worker either!

 

[Jess26]

I feel annoyed on your behalf. What a fiasco.
Mum's SW left just at the time she moved into permanent care. I don't even know the name of her replacement.

 

[kingmidas1962]

My situation mirrors that exactly ... in my dads case the social worker left too, and her manager took over the reins to steer us through the respite period and then a new social worker was allocated. She was miles better than the original one, so from that point of view things improved. They need to allocate you a new sw as soon as possible -give the council a call and try to get hold of your prior sw's manager. Explain that you've been dropped in the middle of the process and need someone to take over ASAP

By the way, the respite home does sound lovely!

 

[Rosie Webros]

At least you have the respite sorted thank goodness! When we were trying to sort out a home for my dad, we may as well not have had a social worker for all the good she did! Now the home he is in can't find a social worker for dad. I think they have washed their hands of him now he is in a home. I give up!! I hope the respite goes well, you are lucky you have found a lovely home not far away. xx

 

[JMU]

I am just so frustrated by the whole thing. There is no communication with me at all, in fact everything I know I have found out from this site. I have questions on how I get more support in future, how I can orchestrate a move into care when the time comes (as I know one day it will), how much power I have over this decision and how the funding will likely be worked out (I know the technical answer to this, but our situation is such that it could go one of two ways). I don't even want even specific anwers, just a vague idea of how it is likely to happen.
Every query I have made has been ignored- and that is just asking generally for more information. In fact the only response I ever seemed to get was "have you had a carer's assessment?", which, seeing as I had written to them telling them that I had NEVER had a response from my carer's assessment, was laughable. It made me wonder if anyone was even bothering to read what I sent them.
The problem is that I don't know enough, not even answers to the most basic things such as: Is my Dad considered as being required to have a Social Worker? Can they just 'stop'? There is certainly no mention of a replacement being provided. And how will this affect my father's care in future?
Yes I will contact the local authority. Thanks for your advice there. It had not even occured to me that I could make a fuss.

 

[Katrine]

We have been informed by SS in both MIL's local authority (England) and my mum's (Scotland) that they no longer have 'named' SWs. If you have an assessment or intervention you can normally expect that SW to see things through, but the client is actually being looked after by the local Adult Social Care team, not by an individual. This can be a good thing in that you can expect (Yeah, ha, ha ) action when you phone.

Under the old system if your SW was sick, on holiday, on a course, in a meeting, etc. the duty SW would just take a message to pass on to your named SW and would not take any further action. At one point my mum's SW was on long-term sick. I kept asking to speak to her manager to get some action and they point-blank refused to put me through on the phone or to give me an email address. They just wrote my message on a post-it and promptly absolved themselves of responsibility by handing the note to the team manager.

As I understand it, the new system is supposed to make the whole team more accountable and responsive. I would be interested to hear how other people experience this change in SS structure and functioning, as it unfolds.

The SW who saw MIL recently told us that SS was primarily a commissioning and quality assurance agency. They only did service interventions on an emergency basis. It seems to me that it's a case of: "We'll put you in touch with care agencies, the voluntary sector, and the health sector, but don't expect us to provide you with a service. We're only there to catch the people as they fall through the holes in the net. We'd like to stop those holes from appearing but we're not resourced to do that any more."

 

[turmoil]

I do not understand how you have kept a social worker, my Dad has had two and both have closed the case, I was also told there was nothing they can do as Dad will not accept any help other than my 7 hours a day I like Katrine was also told we would not have the same social worker if I needed their help in the future (non existant help) To me a trust has to be formed between the person who needs help and the professional.
This is hardly likely to happen with strangers coming.

They seem to tick a box and nice job done!

Turmoil