Family of paralysed woman say system has let her down
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AN Inverness family is pleading with health chiefs to help them get their disabled mum home.
Ex-department store beauty manager Joanne Provan (51) was paralysed from the shoulders down after a fall at her former home in Norfolk in April.
Having initially been treated at a specialist unit in Sheffield, she asked to return to Inverness as she lived in the Highland Capital for 30 years and it is where her daughter Erin MacLeod and many friends still live.
At first she was due to be transferred to a community hospital in Kingussie but that fell through.
Specialist equipment was then installed in Miss MacLeod’s house in Culloden to allow her to live there, but that only lasted a week as Ms Provan needs 24-hour care and Erin and her fiancé both work full-time.
She was eventually admitted to the Royal Northern Infirmary (RNI) community hospital in Inverness, but the family say that for her long-term benefit, she needs to be at home – which can only be done if the right care package is in place.
"We had a district nurse but that’s only for 15 minutes in the morning, which is absolutely not good enough when someone requires the amount of care mum does," Miss MacLeod said.
"If she doesn’t get care for 24 hours, she will die. That’s the point."
The family say there is now talk of her being placed in a nursing home as far away as Wick or Skye and say they feel totally let down.
Ms Provan said she could not fault the kindness of anyone at RNI but it was not appropriate for her to be accommodated with mostly frail, elderly patients.
She added: "There is no way I’m going into a care home. I’m 51 years old and I have a lot of life left in me. I’m not letting them put me in a care home just because I fell down some stairs."
Miss MacLeod said the reasons for the Kingussie placement falling through were still unclear, but added: "They basically told me that because mum wanted to come home it was up to us to provide care for her.
"I had to care for mum on my own, using equipment I didn’t have any idea how to use on my own.
"It’s been physically and emotionally draining."
Ms Provan says her mental health is now suffering as a result of the situation.
"I’ve already been in hospital six-and-a-half months and I just feel that now I’m back in Inverness, where I want to be, that the care isn’t in place," she said.
"I appreciate the NHS in Scotland and in England are two different things but there has been a massive breakdown in communication.
"I don’t know who’s responsible for the lack of care. That’s how bad the communication problem is. We don’t have a clue."
She added the upheaval had had a "massive impact" on the entire family and her relationship had broken down following her injury.
"My father, who’s 82, is worried sick," she said.
"Although I am delighted to be back in Inverness, I am so disappointed that I’ve not got more support.
"I feel very disappointed and very lost. I just want to go home to be with my family.
"I have worked in this country all my life and I have paid my taxes, yet when I need the services most I am being totally let down."
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: "NHS Highland works with families to provide support so families can be at home together.
"Complex care packages take time to put in place as it does take time to find the staff and train them.
"We’re working with the patient and her family on providing a care package for her."
