Hello :)

[Wef]

My Mum was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers in 2021. We had support for Mum and our Dad who had Parkinsons and my Mum through a private care agency, partly funded by the Council. My Dad sadly passed away March 2023 and we have since been paying for 24 hour Live in Care for my Mum.
We are now at crossroads, as we can't afford 24 hour care and the local Council are only offering us about half the funding we need.
My Mum is still aware enough to know she is home in her flat with familiar things around and she says she is happy at home. I have asked her if she wants to move to live with me or my Sister but she doesn't reply.
I know some care homes are really good but I am reluctant to move her from her flat and surroundings as I am worried her health will deteriorate and she won't receive the same care she is receiving now. She has had 2 major falls last year resulting in broken bones and 3 months in hospital and she recently had another fall but not serious thankfully. Mum is 83.
Has anyone on this forum had a positive experience moving a relative with Alzheimers to a care home?
Thank you

 

[Grannie G]

Welcome @Wef

Has anyone on this forum had a positive experience moving a relative with Alzheimers to a care home?

Definitely. Twice. For my mother and my husband.

Good care homes are there is you look carefully and do your research. If you read through the forum you will find lots of posts telling the same.

In fact I think the positive posts about resident care well outweigh the few negative posts.

 

[Louise7]

Hello @Wef and welcome to the Dementia Support Forum. Sorry to hear about your situation, and it is hard to make the decision to move someone to a care home, but when the stage is reached where 24hr care is needed to keep someone safe then unfortunately options are limited if relying on local authority funding. If you take a look through the various threads and forums here you will find that people have posted positively about how a move to a care home has been the best decision, although it may not have felt like it at the time. Has the local authority assessed your mum as needing to go into a care home, or are they offering to provide care visits at home? Does anyone have Health & Welfare LPA for your mum? My mum has Alzheimer's and is in a care home and although there have been some ups and downs there are some really good care homes out there and she is now content and well cared for. I'm sure others will be along with their thoughts/experiences but you may find the factsheet below useful too:

Care homes: When is the right time and who decides?

Advice and practical tips for carers on when is the right time for a person to be moved to a care home.

www.alzheimers.org.uk

 

[northumbrian_k]

Hi @Wef and welcome to Dementia Support Forum. I am sorry to hear about your mum. I don't know anything about live in care but I am one of quite a number of people here who have had a positive experience of moving a relative to a care home. In brief, I was sole carer for my wife for several years. As her needs grew with the progression of her Alzheimer's Disease I realised that I wasn't able to give her the 24 hour care and support that she needed. Other than a carer/befriender for a few hours one day a week we never engaged carers to help with daily tasks while she was at home. She did have some respite stays which gave me the courage to look at potential care home placements. Having found somewhere that I thought would suit her, I took the hardest and best decision of my life. She moved into a care home permanently in May 2019. It wasn't all plain sailing, but almost from the very first I could see that she was better cared for and more settled in the care home than she had been for many months at home. Now she seems content, is very well cared for by staff who quite clearly love and would do anything for her, and - despite the advancement of dementia - there are still glimpses of her old self when I visit. This is about as good as it gets and certainly better than I thought was possible.

 

[Wef]

Thank you K for sharing your story with me. I can imagine how difficult it must have been for you making the decision to move your wife into a care home after caring for her at your home.
It is good to hear that you and your wife have had a positive experience overall and that she is loved and well looked after. I have thought of trying respite care at one of the local care homes but have yet to find one that I think mum would settle in to. I have visited 5 but 2 of them, I think I should visit again as difficult to judge with just 1 visit..

 

[Wef]

Welcome @Wef



Definitely. Twice. For my mother and my husband.

Good care homes are there is you look carefully and do your research. If you read through the forum you will find lots of posts telling the same.

In fact I think the positive posts about resident care well outweigh the few negative posts.

Thank you Grannie G for your advice. I have visited 5 care homes but need to re-visit 2 of them as they did have potential, and difficult to make a decision with just 1 visit..