Social services/NHS no communication

[suzieseaside]

I spend a lot of my time helping a friend who has a rare and debilitating illness and lives alone. An occupational therapist decided he needs a hospital style bed that raises and lowers so I organised storage of some of his furniture in a crowded spare room so that we could store his existing bed in case he couldn't get on with the new one, or in case in future someone might need to sleep there.
I arrived this morning to meet the men delivering it only to find out that the bed is 14 inches longer than a standard one and there was no room on account of a giant bookcase, so I had to send them away. The OT has been in his house and knows the space but no-one thought to give us the basic dimensions. The delivery men said this happens all the time. More wasted time and NHS funds.

The same thing happened 2 weeks ago when someone came with an emergency wristband to alert in case of falls but no-one asked beforehand if he had a landline so I had to send them away. Some of you may think this obvious and that I should have known this, but helping someone with his condition new to me.

All these problems could be avoided if these organisations communicated basic information about the disability aids they are providing, and since I heard this morning that this lack of communication happens all the time, wouldn't you think they would learn from it?

As time goes on the more I think that incompetence in every area of work is increasing.

I was so frustrated with the events today I wanted to complain but couldn't find who was responsible. I finally got a phone number and contacted someone at the rehab/OT team who said they would pass my comments on about this lack of communication, but who knows if they will.

Any other tales of incompetence experienced by posters on here?

[cee-dee]

I think you need to contact someone in/on your local Health Board management structure.

The one here has over 70 people on it so perhaps the one in your area might be similarly top-heavy and a chat with a reporter on your local paper or even a local radio station might draw attention to what's happening?

Also, is there a net presence in your area? (ie, local reporting of news items on the net).

[suzieseaside]

I don't know about the latter, CD
There is Facebook of course which I gather has a local section with all sorts in but I have so far avoided joining Facebook!

While typing this I had a call from the rehab team, and an apology. It seems that the bed was ordered by a social worker and not the physio or OT, and that she may not have thought about the size of the bed. Apparently the rehab team doesn't always know who has ordered what! It seems to me that there's little communication between the different services involved in caring for elderly or sick or disabled people.

[fallen-archie]

I think that people are so stretched they have become inefficient, perhaps they all need a bit more support in order to streamline things and to enable people to communicate effectively. I am certain that there are many good people out there but perhaps one or two too many duff managers more concerned with spend rather than efficiency!
Glad they got back to you if nothing else it saves you from having to go on facebook😄

[theelench]

I've mentioned our problem before,  perhaps, by now, our problem holds some sort of record not only for lack of communication but also intransigence and willful stupidity.

A brief summary.

It all began in 2008 when rubbish collections went "Dual Bin" to encourage recycling.  (Something most of us supported)  Our block of 19 flats uses a bin area and several large communal bins were delivered.  Despite being assured that the council had "Studied and assessed the suitability of the system for our use" a back of an envelope calculation quickly showed that the total capacity of these bins fell well short of the capacity provided by two individual household bins.  We would be required to store two weeks waste in the eqivalent of a little over one bin per flat.

Regularly, over the years, the bins overflow.  Just as regularly the bin men refuse to remove the overflow, then can't move the bins to empty them and we have to endure a bin area clogged with rotting, stinking rubbish.

The solution is obvious.  The ground floor flats all have gardens and could be provided with a pair of individual bins, reducing what needs to stored in the bin area by nearly a quarter.

Will the council do this?  No.   After long arguments, 2 of the 4 ground floor residents have been "granted" their own bins,  One because they are disabled, the other very old and only because they physically cannot lift the larger bin lids.  The overall improvement is noticeable to everyone, except the council.

The latest instalment of this saga of stupidity is the bin area has now been roofed and gated, at considerable expense.  Something I had to contribute to as a leaseholder.  This, because the council is still in denial about the inadequate overall bin capacity and has decided that the problems are not now caused by resident "abuse and misuse of the bins", but by fly-tipping by non-residents.

Only one small problem with this "solution"  the gate is permanently chained and pad-locked open, so still allowing entry to the phantom fly-tippers.

Our plight continues, with the hot weather will come the smell and the flies again.   Seagulls tearing open the bags and throwing rubbish all over the path and probably other vermin feeding on the open bags.

Going back to the earlier suggestion that involving local media might prove effective.  I would whole-heartedly agree with this approach.  Our block is one of three, all inter-connected.  They all suffered the same problems, to begin with.  One of the other blocks didn't waste any time reasoning with the council, they went to the press.   A Councillor was pictured holding a broom!!! and telling the populace how they liked to listen and solve problems for residents.

They have had individual bins in the ground floor gardens ever since and no problems.  But still the council refuses to see the blindingly obvious.

[mhbt32again]

I'm afraid not sharing info seems to be rampant in local Social Services.  My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers when she was about 77 or 78, and suddenly I had to deal with Social Services frequently, on her behalf.  Eventually, aged 87, my mother went into a residential home, where she died 6 years later aged 93. 

In the intervening years, between diagnosis and admission to the home, I discovered more about dealing with Social Services than I ever wanted to know!  And a lot of it was definitely not good.  They just don't seem to possess or use common sense, so I'm not at all surprised to hear your story.