Spinal

‘I need qualified carers or
 life isn’t worth living’

The crisis in social care has worsened, a Government advisory committee has warned, with people in need of support struggling badly to access the care they need.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has reported there are around 70,000 more vacancies in social care now than before the pandemic – an overall vacancy rate of 11.1 per cent, and a level which continues to grow. 
The recruitment crisis – much of which is down to the ending of free movement through Brexit, says the MAC – is impacting severely on those who need care, and has been described as a matter of ‘life or death’ for many. 
For 51-year-old Lynda Yu, who lives with paralysis after a road collision in 2004, she is fully dependent on 24/7 care. Such are the complexity of her needs, she would end up in A&E without such support. 
However, Lynda is struggling to have her care requirements met, and has confessed the situation has left her feeling suicidal. 
“I need qualified carers or life isn’t worth living. I know I should stay alive and fight it but how can you fight it if you don’t have anything to fight with?,” she says. 
Her partner Michal has stepped in to deliver the care she needs in the absence of access to dedicated carers, but the stress on him as Lynda’s full-time carer has become intolerable.
Michal has not had a single day off work for the past seven years. It takes him around three to four hours just to get Lynda ready for the day, which includes carrying her from bed to the shower chair and undertaking her bowel management routine.
“My partner can no longer cope. He is going to have a breakdown if I don’t do something, so I have looked at care outside,” says Lynda. 
“My mum is sick, and I don’t have extended family close by, but he can’t manage anymore mentally. I can’t go without care for one day as if my catheter bag isn’t emptied, I suffer from something called autonomic dysreflexia which could be fatal.
“Sometimes I think what am I going to do, you can’t make a loved one care for you 24/7 without a break.
“I do have to recruit but if I can’t then I have even considered ending my own life, I know I have been given a chance to live again after the accident, but every day I worry about it. How can I tell my eight-year-old niece that I can’t visit her because I have no carer to help me?”
Every care agency she has contacted has told Lynda a similar story; that they’re short on carers and cannot take on any new assignments, provide respite cover or offer regular care, citing the problem with recruitment through new immigration rules. 
“The government must allow overseas carers to come and work in the UK again so they can care for and support people like me to lead a fulfilled life. Care, and especially intimate personal care, is a difficult job. It takes a special kind of person to do it well,” says Lynda. 
In July 2021, the Government commissioned MAC to ‘undertake an independent review of adult social care, and the impact the ending freedom of movement has had on the sector’. 
It contained a total of 19 recommendations relating to pay and conditions and immigration policy for social care, that would help to ease the burden on employers and migrants alike which have so far been ignored. 
In this week’s annual report, MAC expressed its disappointment stressing that the cost-of-living crisis is particularly severe for social care workers, given that their pay remains tied to insufficient government funding and that they’re generally
not well compensated for their fuel costs.
Following recent announcements by the Chancellor in his autumn statement for increased funding available for the social care sector MAC stated in its report:
“The conditions now faced by the social care sector are unsustainable. Despite calls from the Health and Social Care Select Committee, the Public Accounts Committee, the NHS Confederation, Care England and numerous other organisations alongside the MAC, the Government appears to have no ambitions to raise pay in a material and properly funded way.”
For Lynda the stress of finding appropriate care has become overwhelming: “It keeps me awake at night and I have to rely on sleeping pills which I have been on for three years. 
“How am I supposed to live this life when I can’t afford to get the care I need? People don’t realise how hard it is to access decent care and the danger if you don’t receive any help.”
Spinal Injuries Association supports many like Lynda in their battle to access the care they need.
CEO Nik Hartley OBE said: “It’s a source of deep frustration and disappointment that the Government still hasn’t responded to the MAC report on the impact of the ending of free movement on the care sector. 
“Our engagement with MAC was crucial in helping to shine a light on cases like Lynda’s and ensuring MAC understood about spinal cord injury and the critical importance to SCI people of being able to use skilled care workers irrespective of their country of origin. 
“We hope the MAC annual report helps to prompt the government to do so as a matter of priority.”

‘Next step –
walking with crutches!’

A man who feared he may never walk again after sustaining a serious spinal injury while hiking is now looking to the next phase of his rehabilitation by targeting walking with crutches. 

Jamie Hardesty fell 30ft down Mount Tryfan in Snowdonia in April this year while on a solo hike – part of an adventure holiday to North Wales with his wife Sammy – and was airlifted to hospital. 
Medics at the Major Trauma Centre at Ainrtee University Hospital in collaboration with The Walton Centre found that he had broken his chest, ribcage, back in three places, and had collapsed both of his lungs in the fall.

“I couldn’t move my legs, so I thought that I’d badly broken them. I was confused when I got to A&E because I was pleading with them not to amputate my legs, not knowing that it
was referred pain from the damage done to my spine.”
During the initial assessment in the Major Trauma Centre, consultant spinal surgeon Miss Maggie Lee assessed Jamie and conducted the complex spinal surgery he needed.
Jamie, from Newcastle upon Tyne, continued: “Miss Lee was amazing at calming me down in those initial conversations. I was in surgery for a long time while she was reinforcing my spine. 
“When I woke up I had no sensation below my hips, the damage was that extensive.”
Jamie had sustained Thoracic-level spinal damage, which affected his mobility, but as the injury was classed as an ‘incomplete spinal cord injury’, it means that there is potential for recovery.
“I remember being very upset after the surgery because of the lack of feeling in my legs,” Jamie recalls. 
“I’m a very active person, I’ve run half-marathons in the past, I love walking and hiking. So facing the prospect of never being able to walk again hit me very hard. 
“But Miss Lee and the staff on Horsley ICU were excellent in looking after me and keeping my spirits up.”
Since the injury, Jamie has been receiving intensive physiotherapy in the community to help get back on his feet and is so far up to walking with a Zimmer frame. 
Recently, he returned to The Walton Centre to visit Miss Lee and the teams that helped save his life and mobility.
Jamie said: “Progress is slow and I’m using a wheelchair mainly for the moment, but considering the extent of the damage I’m grateful to be this far along. I was so happy to come back and see the staff and Miss Lee to show them my progress. 

Miss Lee said: “With an injury like this, initial treatment is to stabilise the spinal column so we can mobilise and treat the patient safely. 
“The initial trauma causes the spinal cord to be inflamed and swollen, preventing the nerves from functioning properly and this can be devastating, as at times, there may be no function, there can be loss of sensation, loss of movement or loss of control of body functions. 
“As this settles, nerves can regain some function, especially with an incomplete injury and individuals may recover some function as late as 18 months after the injury.
“It is important to remember that all patients are individuals and outcomes can differ. 
“Jamie had a great positive attitude, which plays an important part in his rehabilitation.
He is surrounded by his supportive family and a great team of therapists.
“I only played a small part in his journey; he is an inspiration to other patients with spinal cord injury. I am so pleased to see how far he’s come in six months. I hope he continues to recover well.”