Hi everyone this is my first post. I am in a very difficult position, I have been made homeless from domestic abuse, I have been under adult social care for my disabilities for multiple years although my local authority has not been following basic procedures properly or providing what I need. The housing department of my local authority has not been following homeless or re-housing procedures correctly either, and I also rely heavily on NHS- having to go to hospital appointments on the regular and managing the background admin for it like a full-time job, but I am struggling to navigate it and get the care I need there also.
There has been a lack of join-up between all services involved even though the problems very much cross over. For example social services & NHS have been rejecting to deal with many things, saying it is the remit of the other agency. And the local authority services are trying to do their parts in isolation from each other- but social services can’t give me the right provisions if they ignore that I am not housed appropriately and still suffering some abuse, and the housing services can’t house me appropriately if they don’t understand aspects of my conditions, disabilities and social care needs.
I’ve been told by a local disability action charity that in terms of rehousing, the local authority should have first given me an OT assessment to understand my complex suitability needs, and then started offering permanent properties to fit those needs. I’ve needed an OT assessment for years as part of my medical & social care, but it has never been arranged. I am now being offered a permanent property, that I can already see in unsuitable in some aspects, being told by the local authority that it is suitable as they have decided it so, and that they won’t offer me anywhere else if I turn it down. However they only know about some of the suitability needs I have been able to recognise myself and tell them about. And they have made it really hard for me to tell them even those things. They haven’t followed the procedure they’re supposed to have done with OT.
A new social worker has apparently referred for OT as part of a social care act reassessment, but I haven’t heard anything back from them in over a month. I am also concerned that even if it does go ahead, it will be used for the social care and not the housing department processes because they keep everything separate. I called the local authority OT department and talked to a duty worker, who seemed dumbfounded that an OT assessment would have anything to do with rehousing or look at anything other than home adaptations. This makes me seriously worried about the competence of their OT workers and OT assessments. A low level of competence is definitely in keeping with everything else I have experienced from my local authority over the past 15 years. I’m concerned that a local authority OT assessment might actually hinder my case for getting my suitability needs met if they do a really bad assessment and I end up with an official document that misses out many of my needs. Or even says I don’t need specific things that I do in fact need.
This is making me consider getting a private OT assessment instead of relying on the flaky local council. While I don’t have the financial means to sustainably pay rent to live anywhere, I have enough and am willing to spend a big lump sum on something as important as this to get myself into a situation where I can start rebuilding my life. I absolutely cannot do that if I don’t get into suitable housing and get a proper support package in place. But I have no idea how to go about finding an appropriate or reliable private OT for my situation.
Can anybody help in any way? Any recommendations of a good private OT (I am in London if that helps), or advice on how to find one, or whether this is actually something that would work and be considered by my local authority? Or any other advice about my situation and other options I might be able to take to get out of this crisis, I would greatly appreciate. I’m trying my hardest to get out of this but I am exhausted.
