This is the team who step in to help.
Maud and Ted have led what many would describe as a charmed life. Their busy greengrocer store made them almost local celebrities in their home town of Maghull, Merseyside.
When ill health struck they turned to each other, as they’ve done all their lives, for strength and support. But Ted developed prostrate cancer which has since spread to his bones, leaving him in constant pain.
By then Maud was in the early stages of dementia.
Sarah Gibson co-ordinates Maghull community care team; her role is to identify which services someone needs and bring them together, all the time monitoring to ensure they work together to provide people with the right help at the right time.
“They’d reached crisis point. Ted was in chronic pain. Their daughter Nicky was holding down a full time job while caring for her own family and her mum and dad. Strong family bonds were being torn apart. They needed help in so many ways.”
Community matron Jacqui Martin arranged for Ted to go into Woodlands Hospice for respite and a review of his pain relief, while helping Nicky manage Maud and working with district nursing, palliative care and physiotherapy teams.
South Sefton community mental health team. Nurse Carla Wilson (pictured) and her colleagues helped Maud stay at home, while community pharmacist Grace Harris goes to the couple’s home to check they understand why changes are being made and monitor for adverse effects.
The team contacted Social Services to secure carers so Ted can get some respite and independence.
Jacqui: “They’re like so many older people in this community, reluctant to ask for help. They worry about needing to go into care, they fear losing their house. Yet the help is out there.”