My father-in-law (aged 74) was diagnosed with Dementia two years ago - on the same day that another consultant diagnosed his prostate cancer. Following radical surgery his cancer is stable, but his mental state continues to deteriorate.
He was prescribed Aricept after a private consultation with a neurologist - the psychogeriatrician did not have the budget to fund this medication on the NHS. After letters to his MP funding did eventually become available. However, only six months or so afterwards my father-in-law was refusing to take the tablets and their efficacy seemed to be diminishing.
He has successfully managed to live at home on his own until last week - despite being unable to clean, shop, cook and look after himself. This was depite Social services failure to provide adequate care and support. We live 25 miles away and it has not been easy to keep an eye on him. Daily telephone calls would often be ignored and we had to rely on neighbours' reports on his welfare. It took over a year - and one official complaint - for the social worker to generate a care assessment and plan, and my husband and I had to liaise directly with the care provider to obtain cover for a hot meal to be provided each day - only 6 hours per week were eventually provided by Social Services. My father-in-law subsequently decided to refuse the carers entry to his home and Social services left him with no care since mid May 2003. Indeed, they didn't attempt to try to reinstate any care. We managed to shop, clean and maintain the house while a local agency provided one meal a day. However, but my father-in-law had reached the stage where he wasn't able to make a cup of tea for himself. He has now moved into a psychiatric hospital assessment ward. I feel that if he had more help from social Services and a CPN who visited him more that three times in two years we would have been able to preserve his independence and he could have stayed in his own home, where he was happy.
I just wonder now if he can ever return home. We had hoped he might be able to receive more care at home, perhaps 24 hour care - but without social services help this would be difficult to finance. Can any one suggest some options? He has been diagnosed by the psychjatrist as being severely demented and needing 24 hour care.
In frustration...
Chrissie
He was prescribed Aricept after a private consultation with a neurologist - the psychogeriatrician did not have the budget to fund this medication on the NHS. After letters to his MP funding did eventually become available. However, only six months or so afterwards my father-in-law was refusing to take the tablets and their efficacy seemed to be diminishing.
He has successfully managed to live at home on his own until last week - despite being unable to clean, shop, cook and look after himself. This was depite Social services failure to provide adequate care and support. We live 25 miles away and it has not been easy to keep an eye on him. Daily telephone calls would often be ignored and we had to rely on neighbours' reports on his welfare. It took over a year - and one official complaint - for the social worker to generate a care assessment and plan, and my husband and I had to liaise directly with the care provider to obtain cover for a hot meal to be provided each day - only 6 hours per week were eventually provided by Social Services. My father-in-law subsequently decided to refuse the carers entry to his home and Social services left him with no care since mid May 2003. Indeed, they didn't attempt to try to reinstate any care. We managed to shop, clean and maintain the house while a local agency provided one meal a day. However, but my father-in-law had reached the stage where he wasn't able to make a cup of tea for himself. He has now moved into a psychiatric hospital assessment ward. I feel that if he had more help from social Services and a CPN who visited him more that three times in two years we would have been able to preserve his independence and he could have stayed in his own home, where he was happy.
I just wonder now if he can ever return home. We had hoped he might be able to receive more care at home, perhaps 24 hour care - but without social services help this would be difficult to finance. Can any one suggest some options? He has been diagnosed by the psychjatrist as being severely demented and needing 24 hour care.
In frustration...
Chrissie
