The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Couple’s agony after daughter refused home respite support
Angus family faces heart-wrenching decision over future care
An Angus couple have told how they face the agonising decision of whether to put their disabled daughter into full-time care following a home respite refusal.
Gillian and Rob Millman’s daughter Lauren, 21, requires specialist care after she was left in a vegetative state following a failed attempt to take her own life in 2013.
Lauren had a regular respite place at a neurological care centre in Dundee until recently after the management decided they could no longer support her complex needs.
A request for respite care instead at the specially-adapted family home in Arbroath has not been approved by Angus Council.
The couple were asked to consider respite care at a nursing home for older people but raised concerns that it is not a suitable or safe environment.
The only option that remains is a brain injury unit in Monifieth, which would be on a permanent basis, which has left the family with a potentially heartwrenching decision to make over their daughter’s future.
Lauren has been invited to visit the unit to get to know the staff before the family make a decision about whether to move her there permanently.
Mum Gillian said: “The concerns with regard to elderly/dementia focused homes are that Lauren would not be constantly supervised in such an environment and, as she can’t cry out for help or press an alarm button, nobody would know if anything was to happen to her in what is not a secure environment.
“We suggested home care, where the respite would happen in our home with care staff staying there 24/7 during the respite period rather than her going elsewhere.
“As the house is fully adapted and it is a safe and secure environment that Lauren knows, the family feel that is the best option given there really are no other suitable options elsewhere.
“Care staff currently visit at morning and night to help with Lauren’s routine so they are people she knows, and the family are confident they can look after Lauren’s needs.
“However, the council have recently said that care in the home is not allowed as it is not within their current social care policy.
“The care package required for care in the family home would work out substantially less than in Linlathen (a specialist unit) and are aligned with Cairnie Lodge.
“The benefits of care at home vastly outweigh the risk to Lauren in one of these homes.”
A spokesman for Angus Health and Social Care Partnership said they could not discuss individual cases but are “working with the family to find the most appropriate solution”.
Mrs Millman said Lauren’s prognosis and age means her needs are unique in Scotland if not the UK.
“But the council have to be able to adapt to that,” she said.
“We are happy to work with Angus Council to find a solution to the home care suggestion – just because it isn’t policy doesn’t mean it couldn’t be.”
Lauren is and has been entitled to six weeks a year respite for the past two years although the family has never actually used the full provision.
The benefits ofcareat home vastly outweigh the risk to Lauren in one of these homes. GILLIAN MILLMAN