I can only speak (or write) from my own experience, but all the hoo-hah about the care sector being hugely underfunded does warrant some detailed analysis.
Local authorities undoubtedly pay huge sums to care agencies; how do they know what they should be paying?
Our care agency is very unreliable with invoicing: in a year of doing business with them half of the invoices have been wrong - by up to about £50 - and, oddly, always in their favour.
Today they have written to me saying three invoices are overdue; one was paid at the end of December, the other two were paid by cheque posted last week, the invoices only being received ten days ago (and are therefore not overdue). If I was the accounts payable officer in a local authority would I really pick up on these - or would the invoices have been paid a second time?
Has anyone thought that perhaps local authorities should actually employ the carers who work for those in receipt of council funded care, so avoiding cock ups in payments to care agencies? The care agencies would still be needed for people who have savings, and could perhaps provide a more tailored service (at a cost).
Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Tuesday, 27 February 2018
'If things get worse...'
Viv is one of many people who have been given advice at outpatients clinics along the lines of 'if things get worse, come to the hospital as a matter of urgency'.
She had a bad couple of days at the start of the week so, after much consideration, we headed off to the Lister yesterday at 12 noon. We arrived there at 12.45, it was quiet, we were seen quickly, and by 3pm there was a plan to do a CT scan and admit her. The doctors (not neurologists, so not experts in her condition) asked all sorts of questions, but seemed especially concerned about how Viv manages at home - I told them I'd looked after her for a year, we have a bed downstairs and she can manage stairs normally, but didn't seem convinced. It was as if they have a mate running a care agency who is on the lookout for more business.
Apart from the CT scan at 5pm we then seemed to disappear into some sort of void until 10pm.
Her condition involves bladder problems ... messy ... and I did have the means to clear up, but she got through the two pairs of trousers I had with me by 6pm. She had nothing more to wear on her legs, and covered them with her coat to keep warm; there was no offer of help from staff. No offer of a blanket. The waiting area was filling up, undoubtedly some cases more urgent than hers, but the staff seemed to only interact with each other, and not with the patients, unless they had a specific task to perform. The presence of patients was almost an inconvenience getting in the way of running the department; nurses hid behind computers, chatted away in the 'clean utility' room, and took blood pressures periodically.
After she had been admitted to a ward it struck me that, once it had been agreed that she needed to be admitted and seen by specialists, we could have gone home, to go back in when a ward space was available. It wouldn't work in all cases, but she would have been able to rest better in a home environment, and I am perfectly capable of looking after her in the short term. Surely there must be opportunities for more flexibility in the way the NHS works that would free up space and staff and help ease the pressure that we all hear about all the time?
Next time a specialist says 'if things get worse come in to be seen' we'll know what we're in for; it'll have to be really bad to make us want to go through this again.
She had a bad couple of days at the start of the week so, after much consideration, we headed off to the Lister yesterday at 12 noon. We arrived there at 12.45, it was quiet, we were seen quickly, and by 3pm there was a plan to do a CT scan and admit her. The doctors (not neurologists, so not experts in her condition) asked all sorts of questions, but seemed especially concerned about how Viv manages at home - I told them I'd looked after her for a year, we have a bed downstairs and she can manage stairs normally, but didn't seem convinced. It was as if they have a mate running a care agency who is on the lookout for more business.
Apart from the CT scan at 5pm we then seemed to disappear into some sort of void until 10pm.
Her condition involves bladder problems ... messy ... and I did have the means to clear up, but she got through the two pairs of trousers I had with me by 6pm. She had nothing more to wear on her legs, and covered them with her coat to keep warm; there was no offer of help from staff. No offer of a blanket. The waiting area was filling up, undoubtedly some cases more urgent than hers, but the staff seemed to only interact with each other, and not with the patients, unless they had a specific task to perform. The presence of patients was almost an inconvenience getting in the way of running the department; nurses hid behind computers, chatted away in the 'clean utility' room, and took blood pressures periodically.
After she had been admitted to a ward it struck me that, once it had been agreed that she needed to be admitted and seen by specialists, we could have gone home, to go back in when a ward space was available. It wouldn't work in all cases, but she would have been able to rest better in a home environment, and I am perfectly capable of looking after her in the short term. Surely there must be opportunities for more flexibility in the way the NHS works that would free up space and staff and help ease the pressure that we all hear about all the time?
Next time a specialist says 'if things get worse come in to be seen' we'll know what we're in for; it'll have to be really bad to make us want to go through this again.
Monday, 26 February 2018
Much is said of what is wrong with the NHS and the care sector, how it needs more money, how it will all be fine if taxes are raised etc etc.
I've been a hands on carer for the past year, looking after my partner, Viv, who was misdiagnosed by Bedford Hospital and was returned home in March 2017 bedbound. I've been looking after her rehab, pressing the various NHS organisations for answers and second opinions, and doing everything at home 24 by 7 ever since.
I'm going to use this blog to report my day to day experiences of caring; far too much is said by politicians and workers in the sector, and too little heard from those suffering at their expense.
**
I've just called the care agency to cancel this coming Thursday's care call; we have just one a day now (it was four when Viv first came out of hospital). We have to pay for care; we'd been careful and had savings over the £23K limit. If I give more than 24hr notice to the care agency we don't have to pay for the call - although I keep a separate record, for invoices from the care agency often include charges for calls I've cancelled. What incentive is there for those receiving free care calls to cancel them if they are not wanted, and what mechanism is there to see that the care agency does not invoice the council for them?
**
The mail today included a letter from Bedford Hospital announcing Viv has a phone consultation with them in preparation for a minor op next Tuesday. The appointment is for 3.30 this afternoon. It's a good job the post was efficient; however, last week we were at Bedford Hospital and were told that a phone consultation would not be needed prior to the op. At 2.30 in the afternoon I had a call from the hospital to check whether she had had the pre op last week, it seemed as if they didn't know: apparently the computer records looked right but they weren't sure.
Imagine your bank phoning up and asking you whether you really did do the transactions you went into a branch to do the previous week... would it inspire confidence?
**
The minor op itself shouldn't be necessary. It's to correct a palsy arising from a Vestibular Schwannoma; Bedford Hospital found it in a scan in February 2015. However they didn't tell Viv or anyone about it until November 2016, by which time it was getting big enough to cause complications. I raised a formal complaint and was told, as if it was a routine matter, the appointments system has now been fixed. There's too much acceptance of failures in the NHS.
I've been a hands on carer for the past year, looking after my partner, Viv, who was misdiagnosed by Bedford Hospital and was returned home in March 2017 bedbound. I've been looking after her rehab, pressing the various NHS organisations for answers and second opinions, and doing everything at home 24 by 7 ever since.
I'm going to use this blog to report my day to day experiences of caring; far too much is said by politicians and workers in the sector, and too little heard from those suffering at their expense.
**
I've just called the care agency to cancel this coming Thursday's care call; we have just one a day now (it was four when Viv first came out of hospital). We have to pay for care; we'd been careful and had savings over the £23K limit. If I give more than 24hr notice to the care agency we don't have to pay for the call - although I keep a separate record, for invoices from the care agency often include charges for calls I've cancelled. What incentive is there for those receiving free care calls to cancel them if they are not wanted, and what mechanism is there to see that the care agency does not invoice the council for them?
**
The mail today included a letter from Bedford Hospital announcing Viv has a phone consultation with them in preparation for a minor op next Tuesday. The appointment is for 3.30 this afternoon. It's a good job the post was efficient; however, last week we were at Bedford Hospital and were told that a phone consultation would not be needed prior to the op. At 2.30 in the afternoon I had a call from the hospital to check whether she had had the pre op last week, it seemed as if they didn't know: apparently the computer records looked right but they weren't sure.
Imagine your bank phoning up and asking you whether you really did do the transactions you went into a branch to do the previous week... would it inspire confidence?
**
The minor op itself shouldn't be necessary. It's to correct a palsy arising from a Vestibular Schwannoma; Bedford Hospital found it in a scan in February 2015. However they didn't tell Viv or anyone about it until November 2016, by which time it was getting big enough to cause complications. I raised a formal complaint and was told, as if it was a routine matter, the appointments system has now been fixed. There's too much acceptance of failures in the NHS.
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