Lynne Wright is a member of our National Health Professionals Board. All members of this board are volunteers who give their time freely to advise us on how best to work with our health professional colleagues to increase referrals into our independent advocacy support service.
Lynne wrote the post below explaining her recent experiences arranging care services for her husband. I’m grateful to Lynne for sharing her experiences which highlight the great need faced by so many older people who do not have someone like Lynne to speak up for them.
On the first of October, my husband had a fall that resulted in brain damage. He was in hospital for ten days, home with the services of ‘Hospital at Home’ for almost four weeks, and then discharged leaving me to sort out an agency to take over his care. A social worker was appointed for him and a care plan worked out on paper. Putting this care plan into action has been so time consuming and even now, five months later it is still not fully in place – as we are still trying to arrange what they call his ‘enabling’. We are getting there, and life is getting back to ‘normal’ or as normal as can be but it has made me realise how very difficult it must be for some older people to cope with this type of problem. I am lucky, I live in an area where I have good access to good services, and I am capable of chasing people but I have found it very frustrating trying to get through all the bureaucracy involved. Not to mention dealing with all the financial matters.
My husband’s care plan is now working quite well, I am able to get away for the day, stay overnight, and will be away for four nights this week. Arranging cover requires having good organisational skills and a pool of people and services that you can rely upon. My thoughts regarding this relate to older carers, many who may have mid dementia or who find it all too complicated and frustrating to organise. The new Care Act does have provisions for carers, but accessing a full Carers’ Assessment is almost impossible to arrange – you have to know your rights and be firm and insist upon them – again this might be difficult for many carers.
I am a cancer patient and many cancer patients find themselves in very similar circumstances to those I have mentioned above. Many older patients are on long – term treatment and have little or no support and find they just do not know where to turn or what to do. This is where Independent Advocacy is so important and just knowing they have someone they can turn to for help and support can make such a difference to their wellbeing.
Lynne Wright: Member of the Cancer, Older People and Advocacy Health Professionals Board
Older People Living with Cancer 