Following yesterday's review meeting, I have sent the following email to my MP. Is not that I am a doubting Thomas (MUCH) but very long in the tooth and I sense that 'other services' may not be keen to take on additional responsiblity for my father..either due to resourcing issues or bureaucratic ones.
For confidential reasons have not mentioned names..everything else is as was sent.
Dear MP
Thank you for your previous correspondence, in regards to your letter to the CEO . I can confirm that a review meeting took place with my father's consultant and other members of BLPT staff yesterday.
The outcomes of this meeting, as I view them, are that:
The WRVS have been contacted to provide one visit per week as a kind of befriending service.
Communications between my father's consultant, his team members, and members of the Older Age Services and Social Services will be taking place to see what additional support can be provided to my father. This is in order to provide care so that he is able to stay at home and hopefully become a more comfortable member of the local community.
The consultant also agreed that the Crisis Team be contacted to see if they could provide support whilst other care is being put into place.
At present, I am happy for these communications to take place and to see if the additional support is provided. However, there was some level of concern expressed by the consultant that other services may not wish to provide support to my father, or that my father may not meet appropriate criteria. My concern, in regards to this, is that it could mean my father will once again be left, mostly on his own, whilst his illness eats away at him.
I appreciate it may take a little time to get additional services in place but I do not want my father to be left for too long a period and I certainly don’t want it to end up that we are informed that no additional support is available. Particularly, as it is now a year since my father became seriously ill and I think he has waited long enough for more appropriate care.
I have explained that should father’s state deteriorate, then I believe the only option would be for him to go into residential care and I would seek your support and the support of MH services to ensure this is the case. It is, as I stated yesterday, a last resort but I think my father has suffered enough and if he is unable to sustain himself or be sustained (with additional care) within the community, he needs to be somewhere safe for the rest of his life.
If you don’t mind I would like to contact you at the end of a month period so we can review what has happened and what additional support, should it be forthcoming, has been put in place. I will be asking The PALS and Complaints Manager at BLPT to forward this email to the CEO as I don’t have his e:mail address and have no ink in my printer, so am unable to send it through the postal service.
Regards
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I think this is a very good idea to put in a contigency plan if they should rebuke their offer of support. (history is going to make you sceptical) hopefully it won;t come to haveing to get your MP on it, but I guess you will have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteResources and criteria, are two words that are starting to grate on me. Don't they realise there are real people who lives hang in the balance whilst they play at ticking boxes. Maybe they do but maybe they see it too often and are desensitised.
good Luck anyway. Lareve x
Good idea to put it in writing.
ReplyDeleteI have the address of the CEO if you want it - email me if so (I won't post it here!)
I hope some progress comes for you. As you say, you have waited long enough.
I totally agree with your assessment of the outcome of the review. There is too much of "hope this all comes together between the various agencies" and an indetermined time frame to make it all happen. Constant monitoring is the only answer.
ReplyDeleteI totally DISagree with your position on being a member of the Trust. I do not believe that it would ever weaken your claims for services that you require. I feel that you, as an intelligent and articulate service user, not only on your own behalf but also on behalf of another (your father), have a unique insight into how the trust is performing. And the ability to communicate that insight. In short, they need someone like you to help to make improvements. (Just my opinion!)
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThere is a well established trend of NHS Trusts caring more about presentation than service and going through the motions with managers agreeing to do things at meetings they later fail to or worse, dispute ever having agreed to do at all. You did right to set a deadline of a month. It gives your Trust time to act and no excuses if it fails to deliver.
Keep up posted.
Hi Lareve
ReplyDeleteSorry haven't been in touch, haven't had a moment to myself. Will email you soon x
C,
I hope there is some progress too but I sense there will be some heal dragging, excuses and the same old, same as.
Robert,
I have been on forums before. I put alot of work into them and the result was I got knackered and the only changes were for the worst. I don't want to be party to anything that doesn't result in positive change...and certainly not with my name affiliated to it.
Clifford
Thanks for dropping by. I hope the deadline focusses people. Will wait and see and should anything materialise will update the blog accordingly.