Diane is a carer for her daughter, Patricia. Patricia has a rare condition and due to this, she uses a manual wheelchair. Patricia receives support from the Children with Disabilities Team and Occupational Therapy. 

Diane has been trying to get adaptations made to their home so that she is able to meet Patricia’s needs and to bathe and wash her appropriately. Diane and Patricia live in private rented accommodation and therefore cannot make changes to the building’s fittings to allow for specialist adaptations but would benefit from a bath hoist and sling. Diane has experienced various delays which have been made worse due to the Occupational Therapist being unclear in his communication with her. 

Diane sought assistance from POhWER when, after 6 months of waiting, she and her daughter were still without the necessary equipment. 

Meg, a POhWER advocate met with Diane and explained the advocate role. She then listened to the issues Diane was experiencing. Meg supported Diane to request a re-assessment of Patricia’s needs and her own needs as her daughter’s carer. The assessment agreed that Patricia and Diane needed equipment or adaptations in the bathroom to meet Patricia’s personal care needs. Meg supported Diane to consider the options that were available to her including a possible home move. 

Diane asked Meg for support to contact Occupational Therapy and, after numerous interactions, also asked for support to make a formal complaint to the team manager. Meg submitted the complaint on Diane’s behalf and pointed out that if the matter was not resolved in a timely manner, she would need to raise a concern with Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) as this was now a safeguarding issue, given that the lack of equipment meant that Diane could not wash her daughter properly.

Following the complaint, the bath hoist and sling were finally provided to Diane and her daughter. Having the hoist and sling made their bathroom much more functional and adequate to meet Patricia’s care needs.

Diane sent a thank you email to Meg to express her gratitude and stated that she would not have achieved this outcome without the assistance of POhWER.