Hi Urchin
I work as a Community Occupational Therapist. In simple terms, that means that I try to keep people living in their own homes as safely and as independently for as long as possible. Unless your mum's friend is absolutely sure she wants to move into residential care, there are other options to consider. A few things I would bear in mind:
1. Was she managing well at home prior to her fall in terms of mobility? If so, then I would suggest a referral to a community physiotherapist (usually through your local social services office). This may help her to re-gain her confidence following her fall.
2. Is she considering moving into residential care on a permanent basis, or just as a respite period until she feels ready to return to her own home? If it is just a temporary measure, she may well be better staying in her own home, having some physio, and getting some home care in to help with washing, dressing, meals etc. Again, her local social services office should be able to provide a list of home care agencies, even if she is self-funding.
3. Would any equipment at home aid her to remain at home more independently? Raised toilet seats, bath aids, chair / bed raisers, stairlift, etc etc? Might be worth a referral to the community Occupational Therapist (or 'OT') to request a home assessment.
4. Did she have a stay in hospital following her fall and if so, how long ago was this? Hospitals have a duty of care to arrange what is commonly referred to as a 'safe discharge'. If they felt that it was not safe for your mum's friend to be dishcarged home, they should have assisted in setting up a temporary residential placement / some time in a community hospital for rehab prior to her discharge. It may be worth getting her GP involved - he may be able to arrange an admission to somewhere for some rehab.
On a final note, I feel really strongly that people should not feel that they need to leave their homes and move into residential care without having explored all the other options open to them (rehab / home care visits / equipment at home). I often find that people don't even realise that these options are available to them
There may be a waiting list for community OT and physio, but cases are (usually) seen on a priority basis, so if she is at risk of further falls or injury, she should be higher priority than, say, someone whose only difficulty is getting in and out of the bath. There should be no charge for OT or physio, or for the equipment provided by them, regardless of her financial circumstances (apart from big things like stairlifts, and there are means-tested grants for those).
I hope all that helps - I will get off my soap box now!! I just hate seeing people end up in residential care unless they have made a totally informed decision about it themselves (ie knowing all the other options available to them first). Deciding to leave your home is such a huge decision to make, and sometimes not one which can be reversed.
Hope it all works out for her
