Hi, my name is onadiet! Do I need my PA when the OT visits?

Hello folks, my p. a. [direct payments] helps me out of bed in the morning by assisting me with a little lifting and pulling [probably not allowed- as we know] but we get by. At night it’s easier because I raise my wheelchair a bit and sort of roll into bed with her help- again this has worked fine- for the past four years. My p. a. lives not far away, and she is my long-term partner.

   I do have a hoist which she has used very occasionally for these operations which works fine but it is long-winded and frankly, I don’t like being dangled off the end of a boom.

   I’ve got progressive m.s. huh.

   Anyway, my social worker visited the other day to see how things were for me and recommended 7 half-hour afternoon visits for my p. a. and four hours to take me out socialising – very nice. However, she was clearly uneasy about my transferring situation [and I guess understandably so], but she does not know that I’ve got the use of a hoist. She has required me [in the nicest of ways] to have an OT assessment in the new year which [albeit reluctantly] I have agreed to.

So, [and I know councils vary on their policies] is a p. a. allowed to operate a hoist by herself? And, when the OT attends do I need to have my p. a. there to demonstrate a transfer or would a talk-through normally suffice? I don’t want my direct payments stopped through unsafe practices, and I don’t want to be beholding to an incoming second p. a. dictating what time I go to bed and get up. I will drop direct payments if necessary to maintain independence. Any thoughts?