I've been trying to get Dad's finances assessed before he runs out of money, as suggested by many on here and advised by his home. It's taken weeks but I finally heard back from the council saying he can't be assessed, he doesn't have a social worker (he's self-funding so, no, he doesn't).
So the financial assessor has requested a SW be assigned to his case and they will assess his care needs and then finances. Then I started worrying that the SW might say Dad could manage on his own (which is what they said before, essentially, although they recommended extra care and help with medication) so I called the home just to give them an update and they very firmly refuted my fears, saying he's not even dressing himself properly, doesn't take meals or medication without prompting and has stopped even trying to go out - there's no way he could fend for himself. I know that's not good but I do feel relieved.
The bad news is that it's not really a dementia home, and the council may say he needs to be placed in one. I'd rather he didn't have to move but I am aware that he could need to be moved in the future anyway as he declines further.
While I was on the phone the manager told me that Dad had come down the other day in the morning and told her that they'd been fishing this morning and he'd ordered a pike for dinner. Had it arrived? As it happened, it was fish for dinner that day so the carer said, oh yes it's arrived, thank you.
Bearing in mind dad's information retention is severely challenged these days none of them expected to hear about the pike again but when fish was duly served up for dinner, another resident asked what kind of fish it was and dad piped up with 'It's pike!' And he declared it delicious, which is the first time he's said anything nice to the staff about the food (even though it's perfectly nice).
Apparently Dad added that you can only get this pike once a year, so we look forward to 'pike day' next year.
I don't eat fish so I was unaware that apparently pike is not a popular eating fish? I was wondering where on earth he got these ideas from but now I'm thinking he's watching cooking shows or fishing programmes on TV and 'ordering' food from it...