"I would like to improve continuity of my care at home"

I have carers from the council. They normally come just for 15 minutes each morning but on two days each week they come for 30 minutes and help me have a shower.

The carers can come anytime between 9. 10am and 11am. There is no continuity with the carers but the girls themselves are good. On the mornings when I need to sit waiting in my night dress until 11am for my shower I can’t get ready in time to go to my lunch club. I want to change one of my shower days to a Saturday to avoid this; this wasn’t possible before but now the council have more carers who work on Saturdays as they have taken over carers from a private company.

I’m taking a lot of medication which means it’s really important that I have a clear routine; some pills I need to take with food, some before or after so I need to know when I’m going to have my breakfast. I’ve been trying for six months to improve my appointment times with the office but I’m still having problems.

I had an accident recently and the district nurse was coming to my house to dress my wound. She had to do this after I had my shower. The carers were supposed to come earlier to make sure I was ready when the nurse came but it didn’t always happen. Sometimes the nurse came and had to leave and come back again later. Now the nurse has finished my showers are back to being late every day.

I spoke to the office again after this and they said they will try to improve things. They are going to aim for my visit to be 10. 15am every day; this hasn’t happened yet but would suit perfectly. They also said I can have a shower on a Saturday. We will need to wait and see.