Please tell us about your experiences of hospital discharge

[Michael Carers UK]

With much publicised pressures on the NHS this winter, we’re keen to highlight the different ways that this is affecting families.

Have you been asked or expected to step in at short notice when a loved one was discharged from hospital? Have you struggled to care for someone post discharge from hospital because they weren’t ready to come out of hospital and/or not enough support was put in place?
Have you or someone you care for had an operation postponed with consequences for your ability to manage your caring role?

If so, would you be willing to share your experiences with the media? Sharing your story could help us reach more carers. Please email Media@carersuk.org for more details.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Michael ... please bear in mind that many problems relating to " Unsafe " discharges from NHS care have persisted for years ... as borne out in the number of postings on this forum.

The NHS Choices web site is the bible :

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-ca ... rge-care/?

Postings can be found indicating clear breaches in virtually all considerations ... CHC funding the most serious as , in several cases , not even considered / offered.

Obviously . the problems in the past few months , as highlighted by the Press , are systematic of an NHS close to meltdown ... after tethering on the edge for close on a decade.

The current problems show the interlocking relationship ( And inbalance ) between the NHS and social care ... each part of the whole but administered differently.

Therein lies the REAL cause of the current situation.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Today's Guardian ... more ammunition for social care to return to the NHS ... the root cause of many failures ... hospital discharges being just one of them :


https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... ef-lambeth

NHS faces year-round crisis over lack of social care, says council chief.

Comments come as chancellor warned that inaction on social care is no longer an option.

The NHS could be plunged into a year-round crisis because of a lack of social care provision, the head of one of England’s biggest councils has warned.

The comments by Andrew Travers, the chief executive of Lambeth council in south London, were made as the chancellor, Philip Hammond, faces pressure to address funding shortages in his spring statement. They follow a warning by the Local Government Association (LGA) that a “tipping point” for adult social care was fast approaching and that inaction from ministers was no longer an option.

Labour said a £6.3bn in adult social care funding had been lost since 2010. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the sector faced “a very critical situation”.

Travers said that without a long-term solution to funding social care, “it wouldn’t just be a winter NHS crisis – you might see it in the spring, and the autumn”.

The chancellor is expected to deliver a cautious, stripped-down spring statement on Tuesday with few new spending pledges and a modest upgrade to the independent economic forecasts prepared by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Hospitals faced intense pressure over the winter as a lack of available social care places led to thousands of mainly older patients recovering from cold-related illnesses being stuck on wards, blocking beds for new arrivals.

Last month, the Conservative-run Northamptonshire council formally announced it was unable to meet its financial obligations, in part due to social care pressures.

Travers, whose Labour-run authority serves a population of almost 330,000 and spends more than £95m a year on adult social care, said he did not think many more councils would immediately follow Northamptonshire’s lead.

“The better way to look at it is to say that local authorities will, by and large, balance their budget, but at what cost?” he said. “If you or one of your nearest and dearest was in the system, at the health-social care interface, then you’d start to notice. Look what’s happened to the health service this winter – you might find that spreading out over more of the year, because of the extreme pressure.

“Part of the reason for that is that it’s difficult for hospitals to discharge people into the community because the social care packages are not there. So you might see an increase of difficulty for people who are caught up in the system and operations being delayed because wards are full of people who can’t be discharged.

When Travers was the head of finance for Barnet council in north London, following the first local government cuts in 2010, he created the “Barnet Graph of Doom” – a PowerPoint chart showing that if social care commitments continued to rise and budgets flatlined, councils would have no money to spend on anything else before long.

The National Audit Office found last week that English councils with social care obligations were routinely dipping into reserves to keep services running and that one in 10 would have exhausted these within the next three years if current spending continued.

Barbara Keeley, the shadow minister for social care, said the cuts had left a situation of “overworked and underpaid care staff with fewer care packages and worse quality”, adding: ”The Tories need to take action in the spring statement to avert the crisis which is gripping social care so that people get the care they so desperately need.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We know the social care system is under pressure – that’s why we’ve provided an extra £2bn funding to the sector and recently announced a further £150m for the next year.”

Hammond is expected to confirm that the Treasury will provide more resources to boost NHS pay, as signalled last autumn, with unions and NHS management close to a deal, and he is expected to announce consultations on tax policy, including on single-use plastics.

The chancellor will also stress that while the day-to-day deficit has almost disappeared, the UK’s public debt remains historically high, so he will demand continued restraint.

The Treasury is wary of making fresh spending commitments when the potential economic impact of Brexit is unknown.

The OBR is expected to include the Brexit divorce bill agreed in December in its forecasts of the public finances, but will repeat its warning that it cannot provide a detailed projection of the economic impact.

In its autumn report, the OBR said: “Given the uncertainty regarding how the government will respond to the choices and trade-offs it faces during the negotiations, we still have no meaningful basis on which to form a judgment as to their final outcome and upon which we can then condition our forecast.”

The Labour MP Alison McGovern, a supporter of the Open Britain campaign, said: “This is a damning indictment of the government’s approach to Brexit. With just a year to go in the negotiations and after a series of highly-anticipated speeches from senior cabinet ministers and the prime minister, the OBR are still none the wiser about what the government actually wants.”

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell urged Hammond to end austerity. He said: “Today the chancellor has a choice. He can choose to act and end the misery faced by many, or he can do nothing and continue to favour a privilege a few.

“Our public services are at breaking point and many of our local councils are near bankruptcy. He needs to listen to the calls from across the political spectrum, including the Tory council leader in his own constituency – to end the financial crisis in our public sector.

On social care, Linda Thomas, the leader of Bolton council, who speaks on the issue for the LGA, said urgent action was needed now, otherwise “the adult social care tipping point, which we have long warned about, will be breached”.

Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said there was a need for a fresh approach for both the NHS and social care. “We now need to hear from the chancellor that the government will work with all those involved in health and care to produce a plan for England for the next 15 years with a commitment to meet demands from changing demography and technology and with clear expectations of what these services should be able to provide.”

By all means ask for comments on just one " Problem. "

Much better to examine the root cause ???

And that " Problem " can ONLY be handled by ALL carer / caree / hospital patient support groups acting as one !!!

Those words uttered more than 70 years ago ... FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE ... coming back to haunt the Government and all that oppose simple logic ???

[bowlingbun]

I agree, this is nothing new. My mum in law was in hospital 18 years ago, she had dementia and a new skin graft. I was given an absolute assurance she wasn't about to be discharged, the weather changed, it was icy, people slipped and fell and broke arms. FIL had a phone call, MIL was being discharged hours later!! Furthermore, would need to sleep downstairs. Their tiny New Forest cottage was going to present a challenge. We managed to get them to delay discharge for a day, whilst the whole house was turned upside down, bed finally in front room. MIL came home, had never slept downstairs before, totally confused, emergency nursing care arranged, she never went back to her home of 50 years again. Nursing home 15 miles away, FIL no longer drove, creating even more problems. I've had endless fights with the NHS over my mum's discharges over a 10 year period. THIS IS NOTHING NEW. The cause is obvious in my area, all the "cottage hospitals" have been closed. Most of the buildings still exist, could be reopened, IF the NHS had the will to do so. Elderly people don't need all the hi tech of a modern hospital with expensive resources, they will never get "better". They are old, and need kindness, compassion, gentle care, quiet surroundings.
We also need to see the return of proper warden controlled "sheltered housing" with a warden on site, and a care team available. NOT a warden on the phone at the other end of the country!!!

[Chris From The Gulag]

Carers ... carees ... hospital patients ... just pieces in the whole picture.

Do NOT avoid looking at the whole picture.

Only then will anyone be able to formulate a " New " way which will be , on paper , an improvement on the existing System that is failing so many of our citizens ... even leading to the death of some that fall through the imaginary safety net.

A New Way ... funded centrally thus removing the burden on those on lower incomes , many not earning enough to pay Income Tax but hit for the full whack of local Council Tax , some of which goes into social care.

If those formulating policy were actual users of the " System " , things might be a little different ???

[Chris From The Gulag]

Michael ... four months on and what have the results shown Carers UK ?

Must be of some concern as otherwise , said thread would not have been created.

In that four months , the question of " Hospital discharges " has appeared at an ever increasing rate on the forum ... even involving child carers as young as 4 ( A statement within an article but no specific details ! ).

Just the tip of the iceberg given that 6.5 MILLION are demned to be family carers.

The creation of the " All singing and dancing " CHC thread may have reduced the number of postings but not the sheer numbers of patients falling foul of the system ... mainly through " Untruths " told by those whose priority is to limit costs ... at all cost !

A brief trawl through some of those threads would be of interest to Carers UK ... and then , some direct comments from your hierachy ?

[Honey Badger]

With respect Michael I have.. but I'm not exactly prepared to speak out about it and deal with slander/libel claims from the hospital's legal team right now either (assuming no anonymity), I don't have the resources let alone energy to fight on another front.

I wholeheartedly agree with Chris, and being honest here CHC is the white elephant in the room, they are acting illegally and with impunity.. the amount of information from legitimate sources he has compiled just from reading posts on the board is great.

[Chris From The Gulag]

.... and , without taking this Issue to another level , how many death certificates have been issued containing the phrase " Death by misadventure or natural causes " when the root cause has been an unsafe hospital discharge ?

Shades of winter deaths ... and the usual , annual " Cover up ? " ... under whichever Government ?

Reports over the weekend from the Royal College of Nursing warning of patient safety as staffing levels continue to fall below demand.

Don't lose sight of my first posting.

Only by recombining the NHS and social care , under PUBLIC ownership , can this Issue ... and many other related ones ... be tackled !

" From the cradle to the grave. "

If ever there was an opportunity for ALL supporting organisations for both carers and carees , most operating as charities , to fly in the face of the " Gagging legislation " , and issue a joint condemnation statement , NOW is that time.

After all , where do their loyalties REALLY lie ?

Appeasing the Government of the day or representing their members' interests ?

[Maurice_1805]

Hey folks i have read some sad stories here, hope u guys doing better now and u enjoy your life!

[Chris From The Gulag]

Welcome to CarerLand ( A nationwide gulag for family carers ) where the sun hardly ever shines on the inmates ... unless one feeds the prepayment meters first ?