OneGuyFromBarlick

Sorry Susan is right. I know the feeling. Get that iron and vacuum out! Well you have a few days yet.

Sue, you are both right, I know that. In truth I have a clean and tidy house considering I'm on my own, almost 80 years old and half blind, My monthly cleaners, who bottom me in two hours, say so as well. However, I'll make a token effort.... They should be glad I'm still alive and not causing anyone any trouble!!! (Actually it's more about their peace of mind about me living 10,000 miles away.....)

A care home in Wellington, Somerset, has told 13 of its residents who are council-funded that they'll have to pay a top up fee of £125 a week because "the council grant has not kept pace with inflation and although the required supplement would not meet costs in full, it would allow a continuing service to be provided." If they, or their families, don't agree to pay as from 1st January they'll be booted out within a month. The care provider, Majesticare, has refused to comment despite repeated requests from the BBC. Somerset County Council has had to step in and say that if the fee was a problem, affected residents would be offered relocation to "a suitable alternative care home" in Taunton. Labour councillor for Wellington, Andrew Govier, said the notice given was "brutal" and: "It seems such short notice that people are being asked, or told effectively, that if people don't come up with the money they'll have to leave....A lot of these people are very elderly, very frail, and it really is an upsetting time for them and their families."

This is the sort of thing many of us will face if the care system isn't thought out properly. I think both the council and the care home are at fault. The care home shouldn't be giving only one month's notice, it should be at least 6 months, and they shouldn't take on council contracts if, like Majesticare, they are aiming to be a `luxury' home. They've obviously taken the council-funded people and assumed they can rack up the charges in the future. On the other hand, the council shouldn't place people in expensive homes and expect the fees not to rise steeply.

Tiz, you're right about the future. Local councils are facing further cuts as the projected further 60% of cuts starts to bite next year. As I've said before there are two factors, the greed of private providers applying market principles to their business and extracting profit and the government getting their priorities wrong due to lack of meaningful commitment to vital social services. They devolve the responsibility for paying for the care to local authorities under the guise of giving them local power but at the same time cut the funding. In their eyes it's not their fault..... The people who suffer are the ones least able to defend themselves, they have no power and often no understanding of what is happening. Welcome to 2015 in Britain....

Families can be very useful.... I have a problem with a large light in my kitchen and I have put the call out for help from my grand daughter's boy friend Mo. I have little doubt he will be round like a shot! I shall report....

My sparks turned up and did a good job, he made the mistake of asking me about tanks and started me off story-telling! Mind you, I think he was most impressed when I told him the story about getting a full body contact hug and an extremely satisfactory kiss from Bridget Bardot .... He'd never heard of her!



Here's what she looked like in 1956..... Eat your hearts out.....

did you think Mick Jagger was a lucky man Stanley? Is it Brigitte?

What is your dog looking for on the fridge?

Full marks for observation Cathy! If you look on the top you'll see his ball. At the time of the day when Mo was with me Jack's iron routine is ball games with me. I'd put it up there for safety because he drops it under your feet and I couldn't have Mo in danger! He is letting us know that he is deprived.... You have a sharp eye.
Janet visits today. Resisted the urge to Hoover round but I have put a clean shirt on..... I'm baking a loaf for her and Bob....

I thought it was Jack thinking "Damn, he's left the freezer door open again, I don't know what he'd do without me around to shut if for him".

He'd be in there defrosting!



Two daughters in the same room yesterday.....

Have they told you it's time to get a faster computer?

Janet continues to be impressed by the machine and its OS. She knows a thing or two about these things.... Smart Kid! She's coming again on Sunday...... Yippee! One of the advantages about kids living so far away is that a visit is such an event. She says I look wonderful.... I told her it was down to the fact that I eat well and bathe infrequently.... Hot water is so bad for the skin!

Mum is still in hospital after her fall and subsequent broken hip 5 weeks ago. Seems like her brain is broken too at the moment. She has battled a urinary tract infection for the last 4ish weeks and I am shocked at the effect it has on older people's minds. She is acting like she has Alzheimer's which wasn't evident prior to her fall.

She's in a rehabilitation hospital now can finally stand with a lot of assistance but can't walk. We are hoping to bring her to our house for Christmas lunch but I have to admit I'm worried about it.

I've learned a lot about our hospital system over the past few weeks, some good, a lot bad. A story for another day.

We're all trying to be positive but it's not looking good for the long term. I know things happen when you're 88 but I feel incredibly sorry for my Dad; he's really feeling it after 65 years of marriage.

Sorry to be dismal.

You are right, Liz...urinary tract infection in older folk can produce some really scarey symptoms and psyche problems. I don't know why more isn't made public about some of the strange ways it can manifest. One good thing is that it is being treated, and hopefully your Mum will fully recover. I've seen everything from symptoms of stroke to downright aggression in older folk with urinary infection. Hard to believe that something we dismiss as a temporary annoyance can have such drastic implications. I do hope she improves soon...

Hope your plans for Christmas work out Liz, maybe getting out of a Hospital environment will do your Mum a lot of good, here's hoping.

Unfortunately, elderly folk here seem to be told they have urinary tract infection, UTI,if they show the slightest strange behaviour. I've no doubt it can be a serious problem and that it may be common in the elderly but carers and nurses seem to use it as a diagnosis to explain anything out of the ordinary, without any test or even any signs of pain etc. Another thing that bugs me is the over-use of abbreviations, acronyms and jargon by carers, nurses and doctors without checking that the people they are talking to understand what it means. We don't all watch TV hospital dramas! UTI, CT, TIA, AF and so on. When carers use the terms I ask what they mean and have found sometimes they don't know!

Liz, I strongly believe that as we get old our health falls in big steps rather than gradually and those steps are usually an infection, an injury such as a fall, or some other major stress. This seems to apply to mental health too. A visit to hospital, even for something simple, can cause confusion due to the unfamiliar surroundings, noise, smells, different food, drugs, lack of sleep etc. Two years ago my dad was in a bad confused state and on the verge of being diagnosed with dementia, all a result of a hospital visit to have a lymph gland removed. He should have been out in a couple of days and the op went very well but the doctors held on to him so they could `make observations'. Then the hospital had a big norovirus outbreak, stopped letting anyone in or out, and he was in for 5 weeks. He didn't get the bug but he was never the same afterwards.

A week ago the carers found him acting strange one morning and called the doc who called the emergency services and he was taken off to hospital. He was there overnight `for observation' and sent home the next morning. A hospital doctor told the carers he'd had a `TIA' (transient ischaemic attack, a mini stroke - there we go again with jargon!) whereas another doctor told me he had nothing wrong with him. He seems pretty much as before to us but he found the hospital visit very stressful, got agitated and caused a lot of upset and trouble for the nurses and others.

I've suggested to the carers that it might be better not to whisk him off to hospital so fast but to wait and give him a chance to recover. He's probably in a bit of a state and confused when he wakes in the morning. Sending him to hospital every time probably does more harm than good. But we're in a Catch 22 situation...the carers say they're obliged to `put his interest first' and call the doctor or emergency services. The trouble is the doctor and the emergency services both also claim they have to pass him on to the hospital. They might say they are `putting his interests first' but they are only considering his immediate interests and not how it might affect him in coming day's, weeks, months...

A difficult post to respond to, as they do have a duty of care Tizzy. Think how cross you would be if they chose to ignore his symptoms for a few days. You would be thinking " they all knew he wasn't well but did nothing".

Difficult situations and Maz is quite right to point out that it's difficult for medical staff as well. Bottom line is to avoid hospital if at all possible. In the 19th century before antiseptics were discovered it was well known that a woman in child birth was better off at home with the local midwife than in hospital or being cared for by doctors. The reason being that the doctors carried the infections round with them. We're almost in that situation now. It's certainly true again for child birth in fact that is the official NHS advice now. We have a situation at the moment where the ambulances are so heavily stretched due to cuts that they can't adhere to response time targets. Solution? Change the targets. That figures.... In the course of discussions it was mentioned that older people sent for ambulances less than the young even though there are more of them. As things are that's probably the best defence....
Nice mail this morning from Liz in Oz, thanks Liz, much appreciated but recognise that you cheer many of us up every morning just knowing you are there and part of the community. OGFB is wonderful.....

I understand what you mean Maz but this problem is going to get bigger as an increasing proportion of older people go into care. Relatives, carers, GPs, hospital doctors and nurses can all have differing views on what constitutes the `best interests' of the person concerned. When my dad was in the hospital the duty doctor's view was that he should be in a full care home, not an extra care home. The carers say he should be where he is. It all gets very complicated, especially when there are private businesses involved and have their own motives.

...and what do you do when someone falls directly in between the two criteria, Tiz?
Too " good " for the full care option, but slightly at risk in the other. I know, it is a difficult call. No one wants to commit a loved one to care beyond that which they need, yet there are grey areas in the choice that provides greater freedom. It's awful when nobody cares and nobody notices, but obviously just as stressful when carers " jump at shadows" and trot people off to hospital at the drop of a hat.
( quite thankful I don't have older persons in my life to worry about - I am beginning to realise I've been spared that burden)

Snap Maz.... both my parents lived at home, got an acute episode and turned their toes up. What a blessing although it didn't feel like that at the time. I hope I go the same way!

Unfortunately the Christmas plans went belly up yesterday when the physio told us that Mum wasn't well enough to cope with getting in or out of the car. (Not to mention the trip home). I won't bore you with the details but the visit ended with mum wailing, Dad really upset and my sister in tears.

Mum kicked us all out saying "all I wanted was fish and chips"; a bit random, but we went and got them for her then and there. The second time we left her she at least had a smile on her face, a mouth full of fish and I had my instructions to make her a hazelnut raspberry cake for Christmas.

So... her mind isn't sorted yet but we will all visit in the morning and I will take the cake which came out of the oven about an hour ago.

Bloody doctors.... But she sounds as though she has all her chairs at home.....

Marilyn wrote:...and what do you do when someone falls directly in between the two criteria, Tiz?

That's exactly my father's situation at present - does he stay in the Extra Care House (ECH) or move on to a Care Home? He's being assessed by several people but now, guess what, they decided yesterday that he has, dare I mention it, a UTI. So all the assessing is abandoned because the results might have been influenced by the infection and will be done again in January. The professionals want to help him stay in the ECH flat but are coming up against an increasing number of challenges. (On Monday he'd smeared marmalade and toast over his window; when you ask him why he claims someone else must have done it.)

My dad lived in sheltered accomodation on Barlick, his mind was fine but he used to throw his meals on wheels out of the window if he was not hungry - said it was for the birds but he threw it in the metal container !!