2 Thinking about Becky’s future care
You’ll now hear from Becky’s mum (Sharon) talking about Becky’s future and future care.
Activity 2 What next for Becky?
Now listen to Sharon reflecting on Becky’s future care. As you listen make a note of the points she makes that you think could be useful in your own situation given the concerns you identified in Session 1. You can write these in your ‘Tips’ notepad or in the text box below.
Transcript
Well I think we have to think about, we’re getting no younger, and what will happen when we can no longer care for her? To sort of start thinking about what can be in place, for if anything, would happen that myself and my husband were unable to care for her just through old age and general practical sides of us not being... maybe as physically able as we were and this kind of thing, that our health deteriorates, then obviously we would need more help with her and probably with a view to finding a placement for her as she gets older... when she has a review is to say, look, we need to get something in place over the next two or three years and to get her you know, hopefully if something happens that she would have already been used to, in you, maybe going somewhere, interacting, you know, that there is some other stability there like with [the centre] that what we would obviously hope is that she could become part of the [the provider], I’d put it in brackets, ‘family’, if you know, that she could be accommodated within their setup, housing and supported living... I think in a way it’s essential because otherwise I think you know, if something happened to us it’s suddenly how the problem falls back on the rest of the family, who have their own independent lives and things, that there is a plan in place, or Becky is settled somewhere, you know, not losing contact with us or anything but that something is there... I’m 71 and [my husband] is 75 (…) I think to a certain extent social services are aware of our age and everything, we have had odd things said about this. But also I think because we have had support with respites and other things that it hadn't become, you know, we’ve been managing (…) I mean I know there is a sort of an emergency care plan, possibly in place, that was done quite a long time ago, that Rebecca would if she needs sudden care, it would be done through the respite service we have, that that would be the first port of call, that she would be treated as an emergency and go to where she normally has respite, you know?
Comment
Your ‘Tips’ list might have included something about the importance of forward planning; Sharon talks about needing to start planning two or three years in advance so Becky can get used to her new home and get to know her staff. She also emphasises the importance of having an emergency care plan which uses the respite care setting with which Becky is already familiar. You may want to add planning for emergencies and the future to your ‘Tips’.
As Sharon and her husband think Becky is well supported by her current care provider they hope she can move into a new home supported by them. Exploring options for future care with an existing and trusted provider known to the family who can provide continuity in care is perhaps another ‘Tip’.
Activity 3 Information and resources to help you plan ahead
There are some resources that you can use to help you with planning ahead. An example of checklist which will help is: Planning for the future checklist for families [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . During our research we worked alongside people with learning disabilities and family members to produce a set of practical ‘planning ahead cards’ to prompt and support conversations with people with learning disabilities who are getting older.
Watch the following video that explains how to use the cards: How to use the planning ahead cards for people with learning disabilities
Now spend a few minutes reviewing the cards:
Finally, make some notes in your ‘Tips’ about how you might use these cards to facilitate your planning ahead. Are there particular cards that you think would be particularly useful?