Dementia assessment score

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
My husband has just been discharged from hospital on the discharge sheet it states

'Patient scored 5 on dementia assessment '

He has been returned to the care of GP. I asked her this morning what this means. She said she didn't know because it doesn't equate to any tests she would do. I think she is going to try to find out.

Any suggestions?
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Dementia assessment is usually either done with the MMSE, which is scored out of 30, or the ACEiii, which is scored out of 100.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
A score of 5 on any assessment infers advanced dementia with loss of capacity.
However this score does not agree with

Well they say they've done a mental capacity assessment and he understands his needs and that I can't manage everything any more. He wants to come home and has agreed to have carers.
Perhaps GP is saying that she thinks the score is too low for any assessment she is aware of.
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
I thought it might indicate advanced dementia but if that's the case how do they work out that he has mental capacity. I'm totally confused by it but I really want to know.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
That was my point.
You could ask the hospital for details of the assessment method used.
The discharge sheet should contain contact details which you could use as a start.
Would the GP be prepared to ask the hospital for details?
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
I think the doctor was going to.try to find out but I'm impatient I want to know now. I might try phoning the hospital to see if I can find out. There were several errors in the discharge information, also things I hadn't been told about. Apparently they noticed a right sided weakness and face droop.and he had a CT scan but it was clear. I was never told this. I've been saying for a long time that I notice an occasional left sided weakness and wondered if TIA but nobody ever does anything about it! I know they are busy but no excuse for some things.
 

Weasell

Registered User
Oct 21, 2019
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Stage 5: Moderately Severe Decline
During the fifth stage of Alzheimer’s, people begin to need help with many day-to-day activities. People in stage five of the disease may experience:
Difficulty dressing appropriately
Inability to recall simple details about themselves such as their own phone number
Significant confusion
On the other hand, people in stage five maintain functionality. They typically can still bathe and toilet independently. They also usually still know their family members and some detail about their personal histories, especially their childhood and youth.

?????????
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
Thank @Weasell .
My husband doesn't have Alzheimer's, he has frontal lobe dementia so I don't know if the same would apply.
Yes he needs help with many day to day activities
He needs help with showering, needs prompting to use shower gel, if ten confused it with shampoo.
He can dress reasonably appropriately.
Can sometimes recall phone number.
Recognises family members but doesn't remember a lot about our daughter's or grandson's personal history.
Doesn't have a very good sense of time.
Little or no empathy
Obsessed with the appearance of people he sees on TV, e.g. Hair, beards, facial appearance, clothing.
Occasionally says slightly inappropriate things.
His day is spent sitting watching TV
Constantly picks at fingers and nails with scissors, tweezers and file.
 

Sarasa

Volunteer Host
Apr 13, 2018
7,195
0
Nottinghamshire
Hi @yorkie46 , how are things today? Do get in touch with the GP or 111 if things get too difficult.
Although my mum's diagnosis is vascular dementia, both the manager of the care home and me think there is a strong FTL element to it. Mum could do very well in the sort of mini memory test GPs and perhaps hospitals carry out as her short term memory wasn't bad. Instead her logical reasoning had gone, so she thought it more likely that the neighbours could get into her small flat sight unseen and move her things around rather than she was doing this and not remembering. She also started to indulge in reckless behaviour such as drinking with random men in the local pub.
I hope you get an answer to your question soon, but in the meantime try and look after yourself as well as your husband.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Unfortunately, lots people (including medical staff) are not really aware of frontal lobe dementias and often equate dementia with the more common Alzheimers. Many of the assessments are designed for use in Alzheimers and if you use them on people with frontal lobe dementias they often appear much less affected than they really are.

I wonder if this what might have happened with the capacity assessment.
 

Weasell

Registered User
Oct 21, 2019
1,778
0
@yorkie46 !
If 'Patient scored 5 on dementia assessment ' was the only bit of the discharge you didn’t get then can i congratulate you?

Mum returned from hospital with her discharge letter yesterday and I had to forward it to a doctor friend with the request ‘ please can you de code this as it could be written in German for all the good it’s doing me’.
He returned it in semi doctor speak ( they just can’t help it can they)!!
But really it was just several hundred words saying ‘not much wrong with her’
So I showed off my only German and said ‘danke danke danke ‘! Which thinking about it is still grammatically unsound!!!
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
It would not be the first time documents relating to two patients had been swapped over.
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
According to what I was told @canary the person who did the mental capacity assessment was a consultant in elderly people's mental health so I would really hope they would know what they were talking about. Am I being too naive? I'm expecting a call from my Admiral nurse on Friday so I will speak to her about these things.
I was able to understand most of what was on the discharge information @Weasell but there were several errors! Also, and this really annoyed me, it said he had been observed to have what appeared to be right sided weakness and slurred speech so they did a CT scan but they don't believe he had a stroke. I wasn't informed of any of this at the time! If I had been I would have pointed out that I have on occasions observed left sided weakness and have queried TIA with doctors but this has never been investigated. I feel I should complain about all this but from past experience I doubt it would achieve anything and at the moment I don't feel I have the energy!
 

Jaded'n'faded

Registered User
Jan 23, 2019
5,258
0
High Peak
When bad things happened at hospitals or mistakes were made on notes and forms, it made me really angry and initially I was riled enough to make complaints or whatever. I think I had the mistaken belief that if I put them straight, this sort of thing wouldn't happen again. How wrong I was. Like you, I soon ran out of energy and learned to ignore the small things and only take action if it was absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you just hold onto your anger and your actions rarely change anything. There's enough stuff to do without adding to it!

But the thing I learned was always to check things, never assume they will have got things right or not missed anything. Mum's discharge notes/medical history were never correct - never. Her notes at the care home always had gaps or were not updated when they should have been. Her DoLS forms were always grossly incorrect. I wish it were otherwise but experience teaches me this is just the way it is :(
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
According to what I was told @canary the person who did the mental capacity assessment was a consultant in elderly people's mental health so I would really hope they would know what they were talking about.
Well yes you would, but even consultants make mistakes.

I remember OH ending up in hospital with a suspected stroke. The consultant (yes, the consultant in strokes) said he hadnt had a stroke at all and discharged him. The MRI, however, proved that actually he had had a stroke.
 

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