Posts
"From my experience, and from the experience of some of my friends with elderly relatives, the big thing that everyone says is that they wish they knew what was on offer and what paths they should go down."
"We [the ambulance service] take less than 50% of our patients anywhere. A lot of the time we're dealing with patients in their own homes, and it's about navigating the system for them and putting them in touch with the right person to help them. Whether that's referring them back...read more
"What I've noticed is that for most people over 70 they've been reduced to helplessness as a result of the pandemic. So many services have gone online. And if they haven't got the internet, they can't book appointments with their GPs. They can't choose times and book within the NHS,...read more
"If you can't advocate for yourself, you don't get adequate health care. And that's as brief as I can put it."
"Maybe there's a charity out there that could help me, or something that I haven't looked into. But if I haven't, it's because I didn't know about it. It was something else for me to look into and find out about myself rather than me saying ‘I need help’ and...read more
"And if you're not tapped into the system, and you're not in the right place at the right time talking to the right person, you don't get the information that you need. That would be my biggest downside with the interactions through my parents that I've had with the NHS....read more
"When we got the budget I asked about further services, the social worker didn’t even know the services. I asked if maybe I could get a list of services. But no, I was just left with that."
"It's about knowing what's out there and that those things are funded. Because even if you find something but it's not funded or it's got limited funds, you're going to fold early on in your search. So yes, there's lots of stuff out there, if you can find it. Signposting...read more
"I, too, lost a mother to dementia six years ago now, and went through all the horrors of finding the right care home."
"I have a recent example. A single lady with a 50-year-old disabled child who had numerous difficulties, I’m just her friend. Even though I tried to help her as much as I could, she was struggling in terms of getting social services to give her extra support. And I'm at...read more
"There didn't seem to be continuity between the support that was available to teenagers or children and the support which was available and needed by adults. Especially on the psychological support side. Dealing with the fact that you've got a long-term illness, the system does seem to be continuous, the...read more
"With regards to continuing health care assessments, I can only describe ours as having been traumatic. The buck passing between social services and health, the lack of accountability. These are all things that have seriously needed addressing for decades and it still hasn't happened. "