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Usual care has ‘disappeared’ says disabled pensioner
HOME HELP CHANGES: Lesley Boyde, aged 89, says she has been shown a complete lack of compassion. PHOTO: John Maddrell JM130211 (19).
AN 89-year-old wheelchair-bound woman has spoken of her disappointment after being discharged from hospital to find that her usual home support had changed.
Lesley Boyde, of Kerroocruin, Kirk Michael, has been receiving care in her home since she suffered a stroke in 1999, which left her partially paralysed.
‘At present, I am very disappointed at this apparent complete lack of compassion,’ she said. ‘We will all be old one day.’
But the Department of Social Care (DSC)has insisted that it hasn’t changed its provision of ‘home care’ services.
Mrs Boyde said she was ‘horrified’ when she returned home from hospital last month to find the usual service of home help had ‘disappeared’.
She said that while two carers visit her three times a day to help her with tasks such as washing and getting up, she was no longer getting the same support for tasks such as vacuuming, shopping, and collecting prescriptions.
‘The staff were ordinary housewives doing housewifery jobs, helping old and frail people to stay in their homes,’ she said.
‘They did hoovering, washed dishes and clothes, ironing, opened all the cans, bottle and jars that old and arthritic hands could not do.
‘They did shopping, to the butcher, and the chemist, very necessary. All the things that the housebound desperately need, they don’t ask for much.’
She said that someone used to visit every morning, Monday to Friday, except for public holidays, for up to one hour.
‘It was five hours, at most, a week. It wasn’t very much. It won’t break the bank of the country.’
In terms of shopping, she explained that someone did it for her once a week, but she said that it ‘isn’t very practical’.
‘On the day she goes they might be short of something,’ she said. ‘If there is nothing on the shelves I have to wait until the next week.’
She said: ‘Now I have two carers but really I don’t need two but I have them anyway. It seems to be very poorly organised.’
She said that the carers were not necessarily the same people, so she could be visited by six different people in one day.
‘It’s not very nice to have six different carers, not that there is anything wrong with them, but I’d rather have someone that I know and don’t have to explain what I want. It’s very tiring.’
Mrs Boyde said that being in a wheelchair meant that there were some things she just couldn’t do herself, and she worried whether other people would be able to manage.
She said: ‘Fortunately, I’m a tidy person. I don’t disturb anything if I can.’
She said she knew other people who had seen changes to their support
‘I think this must be a hidden problem that no-one knows about until it happens to them and it’s a bit late then,’ she said.
Manx-born Mrs Boyde, who has a son and a daughter living in the island, had a stroke in January 1999.
Since then she has been battling to restore her health. She had to learn how to talk again and with physiotherapy her mobility improved.
She said she has saved the government a lot of money because she has continued to live in her own home, paying rates.
A DSC spokesman said: ‘The Department of Social Care hasn’t changed its provision of home care services.
‘The Department of Social Care home care team provide practical support to enable people to continue living in their own homes for as long as they are able.
‘The amount of help provided depends on the needs of the individual client, who is encouraged to remain as active and independent as possible.
‘The tasks they undertake include: transfers in and out of bed; washing and dressing; assisting with medication; preparing and serving meals and collecting pensions, shopping and paying bills.
‘Home care is delivered by a well trained and supervised staff as they are providing care to some of our most vulnerable members of the community.’
The spokesman added: ‘Without any additional detail or express permission from the individual concerned we are unable to comment further.’
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Weather for Isle of Man
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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