Help for family member who has lost use of arms and 70% hand function

sarahsurf

Hi can you advise which organisations can help with a home assesment and advice on assistive resources for an older family member who can't use her arms or hands. ( C5/6 nerve compression misdiagnosis). Thanks in advance 😊

sarahsurf

My ex mother in law has an L5/6 spinal impingement which has caused her to loose the use of her arms and some dexterity in her hands. I have installed Google Voice control to help her with lights and turning TV on do far. Can you suggest any NHS type  organisations that could come In and asses her needs and provide advice on assistive tech and home mobility aids for her to use. Her husband is her carer but he's 80 with leukemia  so family are supporting to. 
Thanks in advance 😊

poppy123456

Hi,

You can refer her for a needs assessment from her Local Authority. See link. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/help-from-social-services-and-charities/getting-a-needs-assessment/

There's very likely a waiting list so please be aware of that.

Alex_Alumni

Hi and welcome @sarahsurf thanks for joining today, and for your query.

I would also encourage looking into referring her for a needs assessment, as Poppy has mentioned there is a potential wait involved. 

If you'd like to explore the forum you can browse our categories, or go over to the Coffee Lounge for more casual chat and games. We look forward to seeing you around.

Please let us know if we can help any further

Alex

Alex_Alumni

I've merged these together now, thanks @Teddybear12

This will help our members answer your query more easily @sarahsurf

newborn

I would of course advise using anything available through health and local government services, but be prepared to do exactly as you are doing, and research for yourself, and be prepared to fund things privately.
Sounds as if you are very caring so the old people are lucky.
There is Scope of course, but there are other disability sites too (One I think was called Ouch Too, but I don't know if it is still running)

'Assessments of need' for care and 'Assessment of equipment required' tend to be made on the available budget, so not needing much if any care, and not needing anything but whatever is in the warehouse, (perching stools and commodes, mostly) appear to be the results often declared.

Although this is not directly relevant to you, I could give an example to illustrate  the difference between what the officials with tick boxes will provide, and what is needed: Possibly thousands of simple elbow crutches will be issued every day, and they are fine, for people who need them for a few days or weeks, while recovering from an injury.  However, for people who will use them for life, after more serious injury, these crutches are very harmful. They are not even issued with shock absorbing ferrules, which only cost a couple of pounds. Unforgivably, nobody will even tell you about the existence of gutter crutches or hand-pads, and shock-absorbing and anti-slip ferrules, as little by little you wreck and lose use of those parts of your body, and become accustomed to non-stop pain.

 This results from taking all the shock of body weight through your hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders for years (You could write a book about all the variant crutches, sold privately, and the variant ferrules, filling different needs. I think it was Tom Parker in USA, a crutches user himself, who produced a range which is a sort of tantalising 'porn' for fellow crutches users) 

A similar example is upright gutter rollators, which are ideal for many people, but because they are not the bog standard issue, nobody tells people they exist. (They give more stability than crutches, provide a seat and a net shopping bag wherever you go, help your posture, stop you falling, and stop you needing to use your hands to bear weight. They also look fairly cool, not like the 'granny' shopping trolleys people refuse to contemplate)