"Lack of care plan"

When my husband was discharged after 4 weeks in Raigmore after treatment for severe heart failure there was no discharge care plan. 

I felt that emotional pressure was applied to force me to accept this situation in spite of my insistence that home would not be a safe place.  I am working, of necessity travelling away from home and on occasion also abroad for a period of weeks.

Desperately worried, I was told to contact the Social Work team who, despite repeated phone calls and attempts to contact them, I feel have remained elusive and vague.  To date there is still no assessment and no care plan which is my husband’s human right.  He is entitled to free care in the home and is vulnerable alone for any length of time.

My husband’s son attempted to help by having him to stay while I was working but this resulted in his admittance to Glasgow Infirmary for 3 weeks with consequent delay in subsequent treatment at Raigmore which could have been done sooner had he been at home with a care plan.   Family help is not an option. 

We have now dealt with 5 different staff and it feels as there has been little or no action it has become evident that no one appears to be following up these requests.  On more than one occasion we were assured this would be treated as ‘High Priority’ but nothing has been done.

My husband gets very tired and can fall asleep in seconds.  This can be very dangerous when preparing meals.

He takes a long time to get dressed in the morning and is exhausted by the effort.  This detracts from the quality of life we can enjoy. 

He has fallen on more than one occasion.

I cannot and will not give up my employment and this puts him at risk when I am working.

Through withholding care support the stress of this situation has now impacted my own health.  Due to lack of support I was unable to visit a family member in their nineties 400 miles away when she was seriously ill with a chest infection and since my husband’s discharge in February I have not been able to visit her.

This is a serious failure of social care for a vulnerable person for whom it is both necessary and a right under the Scottish legislation: NHS Highland has a Duty of Care which I feel they are failing to carry out and there is a right to free care in the home. 

Had I known there was such a failure in instigating a care plan I would never have accepted the discharge to home and resent what I perceive as a lack of transparency in communicating what patients and families can expect in these situations.

This is hugely stressful and at times we have been desperate.  I urgently require a meeting with a Social Worker both to hear what I am saying and to take some action as I will soon have to be away from home.