hello carespace - has anyone any information on home dialysis and personalisation. Could an individual budget be used to enable the carer ( not a nurse) to continue essential role in preparing and setting up dialysis machine for client, assisting with inserting needles and ensuring health safety etc. 5 x week x 3 hours.
any suggestions or experience would be really useful..
Thank you
i think so - who is the carer?
could it come out of the NHS CHC budget though not social care
A tricky one as it could be that the NHS state that the resources for this are already invested in community nursing services and that this service should be flexible enough to meet the needs of a person. On a professional level the NHS leads can sometimes be very cautious about this issue and prefer to address through existing nursing services - the issue we have found with this locally is the parameters of flexibility of the community nursing staff eg individuals wanting their support at an appropriate time for themselves rather than fitting into nurses schedule. Usual NHS practice is that nursing staff can train carers and individuals but not personal assistants - something we are looking inot - have you tried personal health budget pilot team or sites.
If you start by including the needs for this help in the Assessment, making it clear it is NOT a medical need but practical assistance, the service user remains in charge, then it can be included in a Support Plan & covered by the PB...
The only snag is that your local RAS might be calibrated to not allow for much else within the allocated budget, so it would be a choice between this help and other needs.
I'd suggest it might be preferable to get as much of this kind of help classified as Health's responsibility, e.g. to be provided by a Health Care Assistant from your local District Nursing Service...
Hi littlefish,
In my experience, I know of no social carers who would be prepared to set up dialysis machines, nor assist with needle insertions etc.. Such intricacies would fall entirely within the remit of health intervention, and as such, would need to be undertaken by a suitably qualified health professional. In fact I know of no social care agency provider who would even consider allowing their staff to participate in such tasks! I have a great deal of trouble simply convincing them at times to assist someone with eye drops and medication intake.
I would argue that such intricacy is all down to the management of a health condition rather than a social care FACS eligible need; And as such, should be paid for out of a health budget. I would expect this advice to be the same from most social workers I know certainly.
Does the person meet the criteria for CHC? If not, this is the sort of thing that can be managed with a personal health budget, due to come in to force soon, or by the district nurses who visit within the locality.
Either way, I dont see how this can be justified by provision of a service paid for by social care, when it is wholly and entirely a medical need.
Hope this helps,
DLT.