By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Knowing where to turn to for help in caring for an elderly loved one can be difficult.
The personal experience of Gloucestershire County Council leader Stephen Davies led him to get the authority to produce an information leaflet to help residents.
He felt there was help out there that he and his wife didn’t have access to when caring for his father-in-law Brian Lee who died last year at the age of 87.
Cllr Davies felt they were about two weeks behind when they needed support and did not know who to turn to when they needed more help.
“I moved to Gloucestershire, 13 years ago because my mother in law died and my father-in-law who was a very competent man and could look after himself was very lonely.
“I worked from home, so I could work anywhere. My wife is from Gloucestershire hence her parents lived here.
“We bought a house, we lived together for twelve of those 13 years with Brian.
“Sadly he died last year. It was a combination of causes. Old age. He was 87.
“He was born and bred in Gloucester. Lived in Matson, Tuffley and Quedgeley.
“He died living in Saul with us. He worked in the Moreland Factory and Hales was his last job where he was the site manager for the Frampton site.
“He had been a milkman, lorry driver. He worked all of his life in Gloucester. He is the only man I know who ever read the Citizen.”
Cllr Davies said his experience in looking after Brian and searching for the care he needed.
And so after becoming leader he decided to get a care information guide to help others who may find themselves in a similar situation.
“We always felt there was help out there that we didn’t have access to,” he said.
“That help comes from the County Council’s adult social care and the NHS.
“It is also dependent on the interaction between the two. And when you hand over to one or back to the other.
“Despite being a councillor, and I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person, I felt we were always about two weeks behind and we didn’t know who to ask.
“When I became leader back in September, one of the five things I asked for was that we got a guide to make it easier for people to access adult social care.
“We have produced it on a paper format for more elderly paper but it is aimed at carers as well.
“So families, and those caring for elderly people know which number to ring and know what they are going to get and what they aren’t going to get.
“That’s part of the problem.”
He says the guide is probably not perfect and will probably need updating.
“But it is a start to try and address that question of how we make it easier for people in difficult situations,” he said.
“They are in new territory. It is emotionally difficult. A loved one is deteriorating and you are trying to cope with that.
“And you are dealing with organisations that deal with this every day and don’t think it is difficult.
“You look at the NHS and adult social care, it’s their bread and butter and they do this all the time.
“But I think they sometimes forget that to the individual who is trying to sort something out, this is the only time they are going to do this.”
“In the final weeks, my wife or I were sitting up with him all night because he wouldn’t sleep and would get very agitated if left alone.
“That’s just exhausting. Even to this day I don’t quite know if we could get someone to sit with him.
“What we did learn is you can’t just throw money at this. We looked at private care but of course it is not instantly available.
“People who do this work are in demand.
“There was a lot of learning in that so I thought let’s make this as easy as possible for people as possible. We found out of course we were not unique.”
People can view the new Gloucestershire Care and Supper guide by clicking here .
Hard copies are available from the main reception of Shire Hall from March 25.