Sometimes the lack of understanding of dementia astounds me. I have been trying to get my dad to have a repeat blood test (which he needs due to the side effects of an antipsychotic) since February but he just refuses to leave the care home (time in a psychiatric hospital has left him quite institutionalised). We have had so many ‘no shows’ and I feel like we are messing the GP surgery about. A family member is a qualified nurse in the community and is cleared to take blood samples. We asked the Drs if they would be ok with them doing it (the carehome, nursing team at the surgery, and I was ok with this) and the Dr said it would be unethical and wouldn’t allow it. So we said he needed a nurse to go to the care home to take his blood, but the GP surgery has said that it won’t do that as he isn’t house bound, proven by the fact that he has attended appointments previously. He may not be housebound physically but he certainly is mentally at the moment.