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Alfie is a lovely young man we support in Southwark who sustained a spinal injury after getting shot for the 5th time. He spent several months at St Thomas’s Hospital before being transferred to the Romeo Lane Fox Unit in Surrey for rehabilitation prior to discharge.
Due to his complex health care needs, we were told that the Personal Assistant’s (P.A’s) we recruited and introduced to him needed to have previous experience and be Tracheostomy competent. One of our Complex Care Manager’s (CCM), along with one of our Complex Nurse Specialists (CNS), went to meet Alfie at the Romeo Unit to carry out an initial assessment and discuss the qualities he was looking for in his staff of P.A’s.
For his support package (which was 1:1, 24/7) we introduced 9 P.A’s, of which Alfie chose 6. Even though these P.A’s were experienced and highly skilled, they spent a number of weeks shadowing the nurses at the Romeo Unit, getting to know Alfie, his routine, and his clinical interventions. After 8 weeks of shadowing, all Alfie’s P.A’s were signed off as competent by our clinician, and a discharge date was set. Prior to Alfie leaving the Romeo Unit, our CCM and CNS met with his daughter at home so that we could carry out a thorough risk assessment and check that all Alfie’s newly delivered equipment had been serviced and was in working order.
On the day of discharge, one of Alfie’s P.A’s met him and his daughter at the Romeo Unit and accompanied him home. Our CNS and CCM met Alfie at home and helped him to settle in.
Over the last 2 years, there has been a change in Alfie’s team of P.A’s. 2 left to support children, as that is what they wanted to do, and 1 was removed at the request of Alfie himself. These changes were planned for, to ensure as little disruption as possible and to ensure that Alfie always had support so he remained safe.
