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Social Work

Arranging care

A key role of CMH's social workers and administrative assistant is to help arrange additional care, if needed, for patients and their families when they return home. For those patients unable to return home, they will help find nursing homes and offer advice about finances and benefits. If a patient already has a social worker and a package of care established before coming to CMH, then contact and liaison will be made by the CMH social workers, where appropriate.

CMH's social work department does not hold funds for care packages. Once the social workers have assessed what care is needed, they liaise with the social work office in the area where the patient lives, and care is funded through that office. Anyone who receives support from Hampshire County Council or Southampton City Council's social service departments will have to complete a financial assessment and be expected to contribute to the cost of their care.

Patients and families can choose to self fund care, either at home or in a nursing home. CMH's social workers will help in finding appropriate support, and have booklets which list all the care providers in the area.

Support for patients and families

Another key focus for CMH's social workers is to offer support to patients and those close to them such as their families, including children and grandchildren.

Finding that you, or people you are close to, have a diagnosis of a terminal illness, can result in major changes that can be difficult to understand and take time to come to terms with. Some people manage to do this on their own but for many others, support from people who can understand, a chance to talk over what is happening and about the decisions facing you, make it easier to handle and work through the changes.

Children and young people

It can sometimes be difficult to know what to say to children and young people when a relative has a terminal illness. CMH social workers are able to assist by:

  • Providing reading and other materials to help children understand and cope with what is happening
  • Talking with parents about how they might approach this difficult area
  • Working directly with the children themselves, where parents find this too difficult

Social workers also play a key role in the bereavement and education teams at CMH.