Getting Back To UK From Germany

CatKins 1

Registered User
Aug 1, 2015
26
0
Hello :) Am going to try and get my sister who has Alzheimer's / vascular dementia back to the UK from a care home in Germany. Things have not been going too well there. This seems like a logistical nightmare... not to mention that my sister may not be able to cope with the journey back. If I leave it much longer it will be too late due to the advanced stage of her dementia. If anyone has any experience of doing this, would appreciate hearing from you with any information/tips. Thank you.
 

DeborahBlythe

Registered User
Dec 1, 2006
9,222
0
Hello :) Am going to try and get my sister who has Alzheimer's / vascular dementia back to the UK from a care home in Germany. Things have not been going too well there. This seems like a logistical nightmare... not to mention that my sister may not be able to cope with the journey back. If I leave it much longer it will be too late due to the advanced stage of her dementia. If anyone has any experience of doing this, would appreciate hearing from you with any information/tips. Thank you.

Hello CatKins, could I just ask whether you are planning to move your sister close to where you yourself live, or close to other friends and relatives? I am having visions of your sister coming to the UK and perhaps being near to where she used to live, maybe, but not necessarily having any visitors to keep an eye on her. (Just my daft brain going into overdrive) Can you say what the problems in the care home were?
 

Angela T

Registered User
Jul 13, 2014
187
0
France
Hello :) Am going to try and get my sister who has Alzheimer's / vascular dementia back to the UK from a care home in Germany. Things have not been going too well there. This seems like a logistical nightmare... not to mention that my sister may not be able to cope with the journey back. If I leave it much longer it will be too late due to the advanced stage of her dementia. If anyone has any experience of doing this, would appreciate hearing from you with any information/tips. Thank you.

Hello Catkins,

I have experience of moving my mother from a NH in London, to a NH in Lyon, France (in July).

The journey went much better than I expected, despite cancelled trains because of strikes, and having to spend the night in a hotel and travel the next day - my mother actually enjoyed all the excitement of it all!

Why do you want to move your sister from Germany to the UK, and what do you mean when you talk about the move being a logistical nightmare ?

Angela
 
Last edited:

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,064
0
Salford
There's a link below to something the Red Cross were doing a while back, you could try asking them, they have trained volunteers, it may be worth asking they may be able to give you some advice if not any actual assistance.
I assume you're intending to fly which is probably the best thing get it over in a couple of hours but might it be easier if someone in the family could bring her back by car?
Depending on where you are you could use a ferry to break up the trip, you need only drive from Germany to say Holland, get the ferry to Hull or Harwich, 2 people sharing the driving and you and your sister in the back plus you could fill the boot with her stuff. You may even be able to get a ferry to the UK from a German port, I've sailed from Rostock but that was to Denmark.
Just a thought it might be a none starter if her health is bad, but if she has a German EHIC card then you could always pull into the nearest hospital if anything happened.
K

http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/News/2012/March/Volunteers-on-hand-to-help-dementia-patients
 

CatKins 1

Registered User
Aug 1, 2015
26
0
Hello Deborah, thank you. As my sister does not have any other relatives, I am hoping to move her near where I am living. Can then visit to see how she is getting on. Probably best if I don't put out in the public domain my concerns about the care home. My sister is very vulnerable and on her own in Germany but if the care was good in the home, and she was being physically and mentally looked after, I probably would think it was best if she stayed there.
 

CatKins 1

Registered User
Aug 1, 2015
26
0
I have experience of moving my mother from a NH in London, to a NH in Lyon, France (in July).

The journey went much better than I expected, despite cancelled trains because of strikes, and having to spend the night in a hotel and travel the next day - my mother actually enjoyed all the excitement of it all!

Why do you want to move your sister from Germany to the UK, and what do you mean when you talk about the move being a logistical nightmare ?

Hello Angela

Thank you. I am pleased you managed a smooth move for your mother to France. I want to move my sister back to the UK, because I am not happy with the care home and also as she has been moved to a different town to where she lived, she has no visitors or someone to look out for her.

The logistical nightmare is I do not have legal power of attorney and she has lost her passport. There are all the costs involved and I would not get any help from social services until she is back in the UK and even then it's not guaranteed. She is very unwell to be travelling and gets very fearful, agitated and aggressive when outside. Am still going to try and get her back here, eeek... :eek:
 

CatKins 1

Registered User
Aug 1, 2015
26
0
Hello Kevini Thank you for all the useful information and the link to the Red Cross. I do not really have any family that are willing to help me on this, so I am going to ask in Germany if someone can help me. It sounds better for her to be in a car as we could stop should something untoward happen! Thank you, I didn't think about the EHIC card which would be useful if needed. Thanks for your help....
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
May I ask where you are going to move her to? If she's in a care home now and with all the problems you mention then she ought to be in a care home here if she can't live with you. Please don't underestimate how confusing a change of scenery and in her case, even country will be. She won't know where she is. She won't be able to live on her own. Can she stay with someone until you've got something permanent sorted out?

Also, with you not having POA, didn't you say someone in German has it instead? Are they agreeable to you moving her to the UK? You don't want to get into legal difficulties as well as logistical ones. You really need to think this all through carefully.
 

CatKins 1

Registered User
Aug 1, 2015
26
0
Thank you piph.. agreed I need to sort my sister's passport out first thing. Trouble is, as we hadn't seen each other for 18 years, I have no idea whether she has a German passport or UK. Now she can't tell me ! Am hoping someone in Germany can help me out. Thanks.
 

CatKins 1

Registered User
Aug 1, 2015
26
0
Hello Beate Thank you. I am hoping to move my sister to a care home near me but it may already be too late health wise. You're right I am concerned about how a move would affect her - I will need a medical assessment to see if she can physically manage it. When she was more able to communicate, she did say she would like to come back to the UK. But she will have forgotten that now.

The guy who is looking after her affairs (he has been appointed through the Court) has been emailing me saying my sister should come back to the UK (no reason given), so shouldn't be a problem there. I may have to find respite care initially when she comes back, as if she comes back to where I live, she could not be left on her own due to dangerous stairs and the whole at risk thing. Thanks for your advice.