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My cousin who is 88 and lives in his own home and has said he wants to stay there until the day he dies because his home is where his memories are of his late wife and all the good times so we of course do everything we can to make this possible. When he has trouble climbing stairs because his legs sometimes ached we had a stair lift put in. When he had a fall trying to get out of the bath we had a walk in shower fitted with a seat and converted his bathroom to ensure his safety. A specialised company did this. He has a good network of friends and family around him and a good social life. He has carers twice a day but to be honest they are useless. They stay for only 10 minutes and sometimes don’t even ask what he wants to eat , just pop a microwave dinner in the microwave and literally slap it down in front of him and leave. He is capable of cooking his own meals and prepares his own breakfast and has a shower every morning . The carers were coming too early in the morning and as he could manage by himself after discussing it with social services and having a meeting it was decided a waste of money paying for carers for 4 times a day when he really could reduce it to 2 visits. He is quite capable of caring for himself. However he has recently been in hospital with a UTI and the discharge team at the hospital spoke to the care company and one of the carers gave a completely different version of my cousins routines , so much so we thought he was talking about someone else. Firstly the care company did not like the fact that my cousin reduced his care , obviously they were losing money as my cousin pays full price for his care. The carer informed the discharge team at the hospital that my cousin acts inappropriately as he showers 8 times a day. This is factually incorrect. We have cctv in my cousins home and he is definately not showering 8 times a day. He showers in morning when he gets out of bed then comes downstairs. He doesn’t go upstairs again until he goes to bed. We have a camera in the stairs so we know this. Also I asked carer how does he know he showers 8 times a day ? He said he checks the shower , I asked him why was he going upstairs in the day time , he says to check the shower. I asked him how he could come to a conclusion that my cousin showers 8 times a day as that time he only had carers 4 times a day. He couldn’t answer. The discharge team could not believe what this carer was saying and actually said to me so what if your cousin is showering 8 times a day , what’s their problem ? Quite right. The carer then said my cousin walks around with his underpants on over his trousers , yes he did this once when he had UTI. He inferred he’s always doing this - again untrue.
The carer said he lights the wood burner , no again untrue as it has been sealed and he has central heating. He couldn’t light it if he tried. The door is sealed shut. The carer then said that my cousin goes out every night on his mobility scooter in the dark and guest return home and the police keep bringing him home. Yes my cousin does go out on his mobility scooter and a few times he has come home and it’s dark because he’s been out too long but he never leaves home in the dark and yes the police did bring him home one night because they saw him out on his scooter but they were being friendly. He lives in a small village and everyone knows everyone.
The carer then said my cousin needs care 4 times a day or needs a live in carer or should go into residential care. He definately does not need care 4 times a day and would not appreciate a live in carer and would rather die than go into residential care. I find it extremely disturbing that a carer would make these remarks to a discharge team in the hospital bearing in mind he actually hasn’t seen my cousin for a month as he was the carer that went to my cousin 4 times a day and when it was reduced to twice a day another carer took over. My cousin has a friend next door that is always in his home . She treats him like her own family. She’s lovely and when I spoke to her about this carers comments she informed me that is the carer my cousin doesn’t like. He doesn’t speak to my cousin and is in and out of his house within 8 minutes. Sometimes even leaving his car with the engine running on the drive ! He leaves food in open tins in the fridge , sits and plays games on his phone and is rude to my cousin. I did put a formal complaint in about him and wonder if his unjustified remarks about my cousin to the discharge team are his retaliation! He clearly is blatantly lying and we can prove this. It really does concern me that if elderly people don’t have someone to fight their corner social
services and carers can do what they like. Their actions are a constant worry to us. They have made it clear they don’t like us having cctv in my cousins home. Something myself and my cousin fitted up together when we had Covid lockdown several years ago so he could talk to us and see us when we couldn’t leave home. He has only had a need for carers in the last 6 months but they are a constant nightmare. We have to check on them all the time. One carer even told him to walk upstairs and go to bed while she sat in another room and couldn’t see him. She told him walk upstairs and don’t use the stairlift. She of course denied this but again we had video proof and the cameras have visual and audio recognition so when she strengthens said we were wrong she told him to go to the toilet downstairs we proved her wrong again. We are very very concerned because this is clearly abuse of the elderly and health officials converse with carers etc to get an idea how patients are at home and like this case the discharge team get a very inaccurate account of what is happening. This could have a truly detrimental effect on an elderly persons life. Obviously I have informed the discharge team that we want to change the care provider but I feel something should be done about these people. If they do this to my cousin how many other people are they doing this to. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanking everyone in advance who reads this.
The carer said he lights the wood burner , no again untrue as it has been sealed and he has central heating. He couldn’t light it if he tried. The door is sealed shut. The carer then said that my cousin goes out every night on his mobility scooter in the dark and guest return home and the police keep bringing him home. Yes my cousin does go out on his mobility scooter and a few times he has come home and it’s dark because he’s been out too long but he never leaves home in the dark and yes the police did bring him home one night because they saw him out on his scooter but they were being friendly. He lives in a small village and everyone knows everyone.
The carer then said my cousin needs care 4 times a day or needs a live in carer or should go into residential care. He definately does not need care 4 times a day and would not appreciate a live in carer and would rather die than go into residential care. I find it extremely disturbing that a carer would make these remarks to a discharge team in the hospital bearing in mind he actually hasn’t seen my cousin for a month as he was the carer that went to my cousin 4 times a day and when it was reduced to twice a day another carer took over. My cousin has a friend next door that is always in his home . She treats him like her own family. She’s lovely and when I spoke to her about this carers comments she informed me that is the carer my cousin doesn’t like. He doesn’t speak to my cousin and is in and out of his house within 8 minutes. Sometimes even leaving his car with the engine running on the drive ! He leaves food in open tins in the fridge , sits and plays games on his phone and is rude to my cousin. I did put a formal complaint in about him and wonder if his unjustified remarks about my cousin to the discharge team are his retaliation! He clearly is blatantly lying and we can prove this. It really does concern me that if elderly people don’t have someone to fight their corner social
services and carers can do what they like. Their actions are a constant worry to us. They have made it clear they don’t like us having cctv in my cousins home. Something myself and my cousin fitted up together when we had Covid lockdown several years ago so he could talk to us and see us when we couldn’t leave home. He has only had a need for carers in the last 6 months but they are a constant nightmare. We have to check on them all the time. One carer even told him to walk upstairs and go to bed while she sat in another room and couldn’t see him. She told him walk upstairs and don’t use the stairlift. She of course denied this but again we had video proof and the cameras have visual and audio recognition so when she strengthens said we were wrong she told him to go to the toilet downstairs we proved her wrong again. We are very very concerned because this is clearly abuse of the elderly and health officials converse with carers etc to get an idea how patients are at home and like this case the discharge team get a very inaccurate account of what is happening. This could have a truly detrimental effect on an elderly persons life. Obviously I have informed the discharge team that we want to change the care provider but I feel something should be done about these people. If they do this to my cousin how many other people are they doing this to. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanking everyone in advance who reads this.
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