Home care
The evaluation of home care needs
Caring Together’s HOME CARE NEEDS ASSESSMENTS continue to be of great value to end-of-life patients and their very anxious family carers. Here is how the system works:
One of the anxieties of a family carer when a loved one is sent home from hospital without prospect of a cure is that he or she shall receive the most appropriate care as the illness progresses. The carer probably has little knowledge of medical and nursing practice and may not understand the reports received from the hospital.
Subject to availability of funds and suitably qualified staff, it is Caring Together’s aim to support and re-assure both patient and carer in these circumstances.
A Home Care Needs Assessment is available for the cost of a phone call to the director of our contracted care teams on 619 216 270. A conversation with the professional carer who answers may be all that you need ! More frequently though, we arrange to send a nurse who is accustomed to “the system” and is able to communicate with the doctors responsible. You may even ask for this nurse to visit the hospital before the patient is sent home.
When the nurse has all the information she seeks, she will recommend a programme of Home Care which is appropriate for the patient. Up until this stage our services are normally without charge. Now it is the turn of the patient and carer to decide whether they can afford the attention we recommend. The nurse will have information about this. If it is beyond your means (for example if the dying person was the principal wage-earner) then Caring Together will consider the possibility of making a contribution to the cost of the care we recommend.
Illnesses progress by stages, and the recommendations may change.
Nothing is inflexible and we rely on our nurses to see that the appropriate attention is offered at each stage.
Caring Together may also be able to lend you equipment - such as a hoist so that a single person may move the patient, thus greatly saving your costs. Or you may benefit by having the use of a motorised bed with a variable pressure mattress, which helps to prevent the agony of bedsores. Wheelchairs, walking frames and other equpment may also be available.
Caring Together recommends you seek advice as soon as possible. 3 times out of 4 we’re consulted when everyone is exhausted and at their wits’ end, not knowing what to do for the best. If we were consulted sooner, things might be easier for all concerned.
Caring Together is entirely dependent on voluntary contributions to bring you these services. Donations and legacies are always welcome.
henry on April 23rd 2007