A Glasgow man who was heading into residential care is now living independently with support at home against all the odds, thanks to some great team work, and asking the question ‘what matters to you?’

Stevie Gallacher, a Social Worker in our Health and Social Care Partnership’s (HSCP) Drumchapel Neighbourhood Team, was working with John (not his real name) who is in his 80s. Stevie believed that he could support John and his family to maintain the independent lifestyle that John really wanted.

Stevie explained; “After more than six months in hospital, then being discharged for assessment into a care home following a serious fall, John had become almost bed bound and he was likely heading to long term residential care. But more than anything, he really wanted to return to his own home, in sheltered accommodation.

“So, by listening to John and his family, we started to plan if and how we could make that happen. John had capacity to live independently with the right support, and he definitely had a very clear wish to return home, but after so long in hospital, we needed to get the right team around him and build his confidence.”

First Stevie had to show John what was possible by focussing on his strengths and potential and have some honest and open communications.

Family support was crucial, along with the expertise of our Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Rehabilitation and Discharge To Assess teams, and John’s landlord.

Stevie said: “We worked as one team alongside John to build up his confidence, self-belief and strength until he was ready to return home. Overall, the process took around eight weeks.

“It was important to build relationships and develop a rapport, and you have to be transparent about the risks as well as the opportunities. John had understandably lost confidence after his fall, but he had plenty of determination, so we just needed to discuss what he saw as the barriers to getting home and work out ways to get over them, with support from everyone involved.

“In John’s case, one of the barriers was getting out of bed and doing the exercises he needed to do to build stability and strength. So, we reached an agreement – if you do this, we’ll do that, and together, we’ll work towards getting you home.”

The team worked with John to set out some clear aims and the exercises that would help achieve them, and John provided the focus to get there.

Stevie continued: “We were able to say that if John could demonstrate to the sheltered housing team that he could do specific activities, he would be on the right path to returning home. Having the right team in place and working together with a single aim was crucial, but ultimately, John motivated himself with our support. He’s gone from needing two people to help him get out of bed and a move to residential care, to living in his own home with daily visits from the Care at Home Team and support from his family.”

Older People’s Service Manager Ann Cummings said, “This is a great example of the Maximising Independence approach working to get the best outcome all round. As well as supporting people to live at home safely for as long as possible, this example shows how we can put the right care package in place to meet our clients’ needs and also gives much better value for public funds.”