Council house renovations for cancer patient - help

pineapplehappy

Hi I was wondering if anybody could help.
My partner is full time carer for his grandfather who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in april. They live in a council house that his grandfather has lived in since he moved to the county 50+ years ago. The house has never been updated other than gas heating put in and windows but not doors for some reason. There is no kitchen just a room that my partner has put his oven and fridge in. The only sink is in a small cubby off of the living room ,and one in the bathroom. They have rented all these years and never asked for anything, now he needs a room down stairs and a shower with a seat rather than a bath,he has not had a proper wash since xmas last year as we cannot get him in and out of the bath. The bathroom has always been on the ground floor with the bedrooms upstairs as his illness has progressed he is struggling to get to the bathroom on time,and to get upstairs to bed . He is 86 years old . My partner has gone to the council about having these changes done and they sent out somebody to look at the house, the lady that came said he was to be put in as a top priority and that a downstairs room needed to be put on ,the whole bathroom taken out and a shower/wet room put in and kitchen also needed to be fitted, this was in May. Nothing has happened since so my partner put the pressure on and two men called at the end of september to take measurements they said that the doors were not up to standard so they would need to be changed also that they will draw up plans and in two weeks builders would arrive to give a quote on how much all the work would be .And to expect work to start a week or two later.
To this day they have not had a builder to the house. All the while my partners grandfather is deteriorating. We have called on a weekly basis to ty get this sorted but have been just giving the run around . Does anybody know what we can do to get this sorted. Surely his grandfather deserves to pass away with dignity and at the very least have a shower.

fussyonion

The council don't always send people when they say they will.

I'm waiting on several fairly big jobs to be done; some that are needed urgently and I've made about 50 calls this year to the council, only to be told they will get someone onto it.

Nobody comes. I ring again. Nothing is done.
I've given up hope now.
You're in the same boat, OP, and I don't know what one is meant to do about it.

Gatling

Op is this the house your planning to move into with a young baby

ShaShaBear

Gatling wrote: »

Op is this the house your planning to move into with a young baby

Looks like it

OP from experience with my own mother's council house (where I was reared), you really need to fight. Don't call, but show up for a face-to-face encounter. Speak to local political parties and TDs and express concern.

Council houses are held to a certain minimum standard nowadays but they tend to do very little while people are living there and wait until it is vacated for upgrades. It's altogether possible that they are assuming your OH's grandfather will pass soon, in which case they can repossess the house and upgrade it to minimum standards, but it's unlikely you and your partner will be allowed to stay in it together (unless your OH has been approved to live there by the council and is on the rent book).

Dubl07

As well as politicians get the local SVP and other groups like Barnardos, Friends of the Elderly and ALONE on the case, the local PP/Minister etc as well. Any one of them may well have contacts that can put a little pressure on the council. Each bit of pressure can be cumulative.

MouseTail

As the cancer is terminal, I really can't see that work being done. Perhaps speak to his palliative care team to speak about alternatives, such as hospice care.

monflat

MouseTail wrote: »

As the cancer is terminal, I really can't see that work being done. Perhaps speak to his palliative care team to speak about alternatives, such as hospice care.

Possibly but if it's the man's wishes to die at home?
How is he now at the moment?
Could you avail of 2 weeks hse funded respite.
I'm not being smart but then at least he would get a shower in a nursing home etc then come back home again.
Talk to his gp \ public health nurse on what options are

newacc2015

AFAIK councils are refusing to an internal works that are absolutely necessary. They just dont have the funding to do it any more.

Have you looked at Hospices in case you need to put him in one?

ted1

Sounds like the grand father would be better off in a hospice.

Are you sure that you can keep the house when he passes?
That's what you want isn't it ?

monflat

ted1 wrote: »

Sounds like the grand father would be better off in a hospice.

Are you sure that you can keep the house when he passes?
That's what you want isn't it ?

Possibly, but possibly not.
Speaking From experience in working in older person care the man's wishes are to remain at home.
Just because he has not had a shower does not mean too much.
Lots of older people only ever wash themselves from a basin and have no facilities for showering.
There's many more reasons why someone would Stay at home.

Possibly liase with gp and phn.
If he has terminal cancer he will need gp intervention

Mrs OBumble

Ahh, this is a man who has been taking baths all his life - I'm picking that he's unlikely to be keen on the showering experience at this stage of his life. The district nursing (or whatever they're called here) staff will be able to advise about method for keeping him clean.

That said a bedroom and a proper toileting area downstairs sounds pretty essential Lean on those local connections to get things happening. But do be aware of the scale of renovations being discussed: because you're looking at an extension as well a bathroom, there's a lot of work to be done, and if you think living there is difficult now, it will be lots worse during renovations.

Immaculata

I'm sorry about your partner's grandfather's illness.

It takes a long time for the council to do anything. That's not them being lazy - it's just a consequence of bureaucracy and lack of funding, including the fact that there are waiting lists even for people who require works that are top priority. Councils can have many, many service users who are deemed top priority, but to the ordinary person 'top priority' sounds like their case is going to be the next one to be take care of.

Secondly, your partner's grandfather is 88 and terminally ill, so while I don't wish to sound cold blooded, it may be that the reasoning is that there really isn't much point in spending loads of funds on making fairly major renovations on a house that realistically he is not going to need for very much longer. As opposed to using the same money to renovate a house for someone several decades younger with disabilities, for example. And considering that services, such as hospitals and hospices, do exist to look after people in your partner's grandfather's situation. I'm not saying that anyone is consciously thinking along these lines but it's a possibility...

Even if you won the lottery tomorrow and could afford to make the changes to the house that are wanted out of your own pocket, it would probably take at least several weeks to organise and to do, and cause a lot of disruption to your partner's grandfather in the process.

I think in your position, I'd talk to the district nurse at the local health centre and see about getting palliative care from the local hospice. If your partner's grandfather wants to die at home with dignity, they can take care of him there if he likes, including managing his bathing requirements, and that's not going to be affected by the state of the house.

I'm sorry that you and your family are going through this.