C5 Complete Help Needed

[cardiffc5]

I’m making this post on behalf of my father, who on the 22nd May 2009, slipped from a ladder and is now a C5 complete.  After going through a brain operation and countless weeks and months in critical care I am pleased to say my father is recovering well and now on a spinal injury ward and looking to return home in the new future.

However, coming to terms with my father’s injury and how it will affect his life and our family as a whole seems to be half the battle as when it comes to state benefits and care needs it seems the battle is only just beginning.

My father has always been self employed and always been in control of his own destiny, but its seems because of the severity of his injury his care needs can not be catered for by our local council but have to be provided by our local health authority when he returns home.

My father’s personal preference would be to receive care from our local council by way of direct payments so he can employ his own PA’s to help with his care needs, but at this moment he has been told the only car he can receive is from our local health authority.

I would really like to hear from people with similar injuries to my father with similar experiences regarding health care.

I appreciate your time in reading this post and look forward from hearing from you soon.

Mark

[Andy]

Hi Mark,

welcome to the forums .......... sorry to hear about your fathers injury. 

regarding care provision it can be a minefield, normally setup with case conferences etc prior to discharge from spinal unit or hospital in conjunction with your local authourity.  Basically the local council has a duty of care provision, but how its provided and by whom is very flexible, I only have a couple of hours of care a day and the option of direct payments is a choice for me to make not dictated by the local authority its probablly best if you check this fact sheet out too

''Charging for Community Care Services'' available as a free download from the spinal injuries association here;-
 
http://www.spinal.co.uk/view-category.php?categoryID=28

Andy

[cardiffc5]

Andy,

Thank you very much for your reply it is greatly appreciated.  The issue we have is the my fathers medical team such as consultant, physio and OT’s along with his social worker had a meeting last week without including my father. 

This meeting has suggested that my fathers care needs can not be met by our local authority and therefore have to provided by our local NHS trust, which doesn’t seem any where near as flexible as local authority care

My father has been told he will need to use specialist equipment when he is home including:

Tilt Table
A software package to maintain his lung capacity used once per week
An exercise bike to maintain movement in his shoulders

Because he will use these three apparatus, increased chances of Autonomic Dysreflexia, choking on food and chest infections they are saying my fathers care needs can only be met by our local health authority, which my father does not want.  He wants to be in control of his care by the way of direct payments!

I will certainly take a look at the links you provided and hope there is some way my father can maintain in control of his life.

Regards,

Mark