Parents feel unsupported by the council after their son’s meningitis battle. Reduced care hours hinder his recovery.
Rebecca says promises of support weren’t kept after leaving the hospital. She reports his care hours are shrinking while his needs grow.
Swindon Council said they provide good care. They stated people needing support get funding to help with their needed care.
Rebecca moved to a new council house in June. She reports Toby improved a lot recently, but reduced care may slow his recovery.
Rebecca is angry about Toby’s treatment and believes better care would have helped him more. His life changed forever because of a brain injury, and he needed much care after leaving the hospital.
Rebecca worked hard to help him recover. He joined Brimble Hill School and improved greatly, and they even closed his case for a short time. However, activity vouchers arrived for summer holidays, but he couldn’t use them.
Toby now has no feeling in his left arm and exhibits behavioral issues that impact him. He needs speech therapy to help him talk better and keeps getting diagnosed with new conditions. His care hours are being reduced, though.
Rebecca says they lack enough funding to help and the promises made after the hospital stay weren’t kept. Social workers change often, so assessments are late, and the family must keep explaining everything they need.
John Dry, Toby’s father, says they feel let down because asking for their needed help is met with silence. He stated Toby needs consistency in his life, while Rebecca never gets any needed breaks.
Toby was in a coma for eight days after originally seeming to have a bug and high temperature. It was pneumococcal meningitis which caused seizures, leading to a brain bleed during his sickness.
Doctors said he had a nine percent chance to live. After awaking from the coma, he dealt with paralysis, blindness, and deafness, and he also lost all his memory at that time. He made big progress but needs daily support still.
Currently, the council won’t discuss specific situations publicly but states health needs get funding for care. The money goes to carers or the local authority. The council encourages people to contact them directly and wants to work together to fix problems with care.