The state of the service.
My Gran is ill. This is a simple fact. My 97* year old grandmother has a problem. Now it could be either a urinary infection or maybe a return of the bowel cancer from a few years back. But the end result is the same. One very scared very old lady with dementia, so she doesn't even know what's going on.
Up until now she has managed to keep her own flat, she might not be aware of what's going on, registered blind, but she is a tough lady. Of course if the flat had not have been local to us this might have been a different story, so far we have been able to offer family support.
But this last weekend has changed that. We have been increasingly aware that she requires more and more help, and that a care home is an option. But now that this option is being forced ahead of time and in a hurry, all we are being offered is care homes in distant places all of which are putting a premium price due to the short-notice of the situation.
Well, excuse the fuck out of me.
The key here is that this is an emergency. An unexpected situation that has forced us to look for more help, for medical help, that was as a family simply cannot offer her.
I can understand the effort of what happened on Sunday, that the local Doctor network was overworked, and that it took several hours for a referral to get her into hospital for help. But the fact that it took a second visit, with the second Doctor being our own GP to get this is a problem. That the District Nurses were unable to help until Monday, that the hospital doesn't want her as there is a danger she might wander off...
But then on Monday to repeat the effort to help this old lady, and eventually offer her a place in a dark, smelly care home 40 miles down the road, amongst old people who appear to be waiting to die. And then get told that it would cost an additional £250 for the privilege. It might be true, but this is my Gran, my mothers mother, and we don't have to leave her in this unsanitary, unsafe place...
Well fuck you social services. Thanks for the minimal amount of time and effort you have spent on us despite the massive taxes we have paid over the years that have kept you in work. And fuck you Government for forcing this situation to get so bad, by cutting public spending on health. Sure the figures you publish show an increase in spending. But it doesn't take Einstein to work out that all the non-medical managers and accountants along with standard rates of inflation pretty much cut this PR rise of yours and shows it as it really is. A cut in spending...
See the thing is. My Dad is a local counsellor, a senior one. He has the government, public and private sector and even the press contacts required to chase this. To get through to the higher management to lodge a complaint, and to put a bad word in the right place if nothing is done. But my Dad is also an honest politician. And so is loath to do this for family if he cannot help anyone else with it.
But I cant help but think that this is a problem that has been with us for a while. And what happens to those old people who's children are not in a position to cause the right kind of fuss, what about the old people miles away from family with nobody to look after. What about the ones who are simply alone? Who can help them?
* I know I said 92 earlier, this was a typing error.
Up until now she has managed to keep her own flat, she might not be aware of what's going on, registered blind, but she is a tough lady. Of course if the flat had not have been local to us this might have been a different story, so far we have been able to offer family support.
But this last weekend has changed that. We have been increasingly aware that she requires more and more help, and that a care home is an option. But now that this option is being forced ahead of time and in a hurry, all we are being offered is care homes in distant places all of which are putting a premium price due to the short-notice of the situation.
Well, excuse the fuck out of me.
The key here is that this is an emergency. An unexpected situation that has forced us to look for more help, for medical help, that was as a family simply cannot offer her.
I can understand the effort of what happened on Sunday, that the local Doctor network was overworked, and that it took several hours for a referral to get her into hospital for help. But the fact that it took a second visit, with the second Doctor being our own GP to get this is a problem. That the District Nurses were unable to help until Monday, that the hospital doesn't want her as there is a danger she might wander off...
But then on Monday to repeat the effort to help this old lady, and eventually offer her a place in a dark, smelly care home 40 miles down the road, amongst old people who appear to be waiting to die. And then get told that it would cost an additional £250 for the privilege. It might be true, but this is my Gran, my mothers mother, and we don't have to leave her in this unsanitary, unsafe place...
Well fuck you social services. Thanks for the minimal amount of time and effort you have spent on us despite the massive taxes we have paid over the years that have kept you in work. And fuck you Government for forcing this situation to get so bad, by cutting public spending on health. Sure the figures you publish show an increase in spending. But it doesn't take Einstein to work out that all the non-medical managers and accountants along with standard rates of inflation pretty much cut this PR rise of yours and shows it as it really is. A cut in spending...
See the thing is. My Dad is a local counsellor, a senior one. He has the government, public and private sector and even the press contacts required to chase this. To get through to the higher management to lodge a complaint, and to put a bad word in the right place if nothing is done. But my Dad is also an honest politician. And so is loath to do this for family if he cannot help anyone else with it.
But I cant help but think that this is a problem that has been with us for a while. And what happens to those old people who's children are not in a position to cause the right kind of fuss, what about the old people miles away from family with nobody to look after. What about the ones who are simply alone? Who can help them?
* I know I said 92 earlier, this was a typing error.