Helping Molly

Supporting Molly with Social Care Assessment and CHC (Continuing Health Care)

What was the person’s situation before working with Advocacy Focus?

Molly is diagnosed with an acquired brain injury due to being in a road traffic accident. Molly is in a wheelchair and needs to wear a spinal jacket for 23 hours a day and splints for both her arms. Molly lives on her own and was constantly struggling due to not having the correct care package in place to meet her needs.

Molly had a social worker who she felt did not listen to her and didn’t comprehend the level of Molly’s needs. Molly has full capacity in regards to her care and residence and wanted to remain living at home with the correct care package. Molly’s home was owned by the council and wasn’t appropriate for Molly and needed a number of alterations. Due to Molly’s mobility she struggled getting around the property. 

What did you do to help the person?

Our Advocate met with Molly when they took over the case from another advocacy provider. It took a number of visits to build up a rapport and trust with Molly. This was due to Molly being let down by a number of professionals. Molly confided that she no longer trusted her social worker and wanted to request a new social worker.

The advocate supported Molly to do this, Molly then ended up with two social workers being allocated to her. Molly’s social workers were extremely sympathetic to her situation and arranged to start an assessment from scratch, straight away. The advocate supported Molly through the assessment at a pace that met Molly’s processing needs. During the assessment a CHC checklist was carried out and it triggered a full CHC assessment.

What was the outcome?

Molly was supported through the CHC assessment attending weekly meetings going through one domain at a time to ensure Molly was fully involved in the process and giving her time to have full input. Molly also had a senior OT allocated to her and adjustments in the property were being explored.

As a result of getting two new social workers and a CHC assessment being triggered, Molly was rewarded full continuing health care funding. Molly was backdated her contribution she had been making towards her care package by ten months. This was due to the fact Molly should have been receiving full CHC funding for a long time but had slipped through the net. Molly’s property was also being assessed by both the council and fire services and adaptations were made to maximise Molly’s independence and make it a more safe and accessible environment. Outcomes of the intervention from our advocate ensured the processes were followed in a person centred manner and Molly’s wishes were taken into account. 

Why was advocacy support so effective?

Molly’s wishes and feelings were taken into account and she felt she had professionals on her side instead of feeling pitted against them. Molly was more confident now she understood her rights and what support she was entitled to. Molly will now receive the correct level of care which she has been desperately asking for, for a long time. Molly has support for her future to make choices and have autonomy in her life.

Molly was highly anxious and apprehensive about involving new professionals due to being let down on a number of occasions. Advocacy support gave Molly a voice in the process and allowed her to get the correct support to meet her needs and home adaptations which allowed her to maximise her independence.