Carer support group and dementia cafe -live in carers not welcome

[doodle1]

Just wondering what happens elsewhere. My live in carer for my parents is quite lonely and I thought she could maybe go to either a carers support group or take mum to a dementia cafe. But apparently accordingly to our local Alzheimer's Society she is not allowed to go to either as she has taken a paid job and therefore it is different for her compared to other relatives. The view was that she had taken an isolating job and therefore should get on with it and that she wouldn't have the same concerns as other familial carers.
I was completely taken aback- anyone else experience this?

 

[Kevinl]

Pretty mean spirited attitude to take, what would they say if she volunteer to work there in her spare time?
K

 

[Beate]

I've never heard anything so horrible in my live. This carer wants to make life better for her caree and give herself some company and they are preventing it! This should not be in the AS spirit and quite frankly I would inform head office in London of this.

 

[doodle1]

Thank you both for that. I was stunned and horrified when the lady went on to say that there were other social groups out there for her to join. But no way any Alzheimer's society.

 

[marionq]

At our Alzheimer's Scotland singing group there is a man in his seventies who is brought along by their housekeeper/cleaner. She is very pleasant and joins in and I assume she is giving his wife a break. I have also been told she goes to other groups with him. Why not?

 

[Bizzylizzy73]

Perhaps a moderator or someone from Alzheimer's society reply?

 

[sue38]

It does seem an odd attitude - I have never been to a dementia cafe, but thought they were aimed at supporting both the carer and the person with dementia.

Perhaps a moderator or someone from Alzheimer's society reply?

It's not something the moderating team can deal with directly, but we'll flag it up to AS.

 

[fizzie]

I think that is appalling - a full time carer is a carer whatever their circumstances. Sometimes family members are paid by the estate to care. I can understand that they wouldn't want a carer who popped in for an hour a day going along but a full time carer - please can we have more flexibility!

 

[Rachc79]

We go to 'Singing for the Brain' run by AS and there are a few carers that come with clients and they go to other groups too.

 

[HarrietD]

Hi everyone,

I'm Harriet, part of the Talking Point team.

doodle1, I'm sorry to hear about this situation. We usually ask members who have concerns about a local service to contact the service directly in the first instance. If the situation can't be resolved this way, Alzheimer's Society’s official complaints procedure can be found >here< where you can outline the situation and your concerns, and you should have a response back as soon as possible.

As Talking Point is a peer support community, we are not able to deal with complaints on here. With this in mind, we will need to close this discussion.

I hope this is clear. If anyone has any questions, you can email us at talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk

Best wishes,

Harriet