Hello there. I hope people do not mind me posting. It's a bit of a long post, so feel free to skip to the end for a brief summary! I just am a bit stressed at the moment by some occupational therapists. Here it is...
My mother has dementia. It is early days though, so she lives on her own, has carers in 4 times a day, a pendant round her neck linked to a LifeLine telephone, and me dealing with things on a daily basis. She also has poor mobility and falls/slips off her chair a lot. Anyway, whenever she falls and a paramedic comes out to pick her up she ends up being referred to a Community Rehab centre, and it is the staff from here that I have a problem with.
A few months ago an occupational therapist rang from there asking me for all my details - seriously, everything, including my date of birth, ethnicity, etc - all a bit strange, unnecessary and overly invasive, but I gave over these details thinking I was helping. Anyway, the lady came over and assessed my mother's house and made suggestions of how we could make it more safe, all of which we acted on. But she would not stop there, insisting that my mother was unsafe at home, even though we had done everything she wanted.
Firstly, she paid a surprise visit to my mother, letting herself in using the keysafe code I had given her. While she was there, my mother could not find the door key on the inside of the door (it had been unwittingly moved by a carer), and this upset my mother. At the same time, a nosey neighbour stopped by to see what was going on. Instead of telephoning me or the carer, the occupational therapist borrowed £10 off this neighbour and went and got a key cut for my mother. I thought this was outrageous. I have no idea how many keys were actually cut and do not see what business it was of hers to be getting a key cut for my mother in the first place. I really felt she overstepped the mark. So, I phoned her supervisor and spoke to them and they were quite aggressive towards me, totally unsympathetic and unwilling to even speak to the OT. The OT persisted with her insistence that my mother needed to move out of her home, so she phoned my mother's social worker, who was great and told her very bluntly that she was overstepping the boundary and needed to stick to her own job and not that of a social worker. We never heard from her again.
I telephoned the Community Rehab centre recently as we need an OT to come round and assess the home again for some equipment, but I told them we did not need them to visit as we were expecting an OT to visit from Social Services instead. So, I was horrified to discover that today they made a surprise visit to my mother again. This time they could not get in as I had changed the code. But the night call carer turned up and found an OT on my mother's doorstep and let her in. The OT told her that if they had not let her in they would have telephoned the police to be let in as they were worried about the safety of my mother. Fortunately, the carer stayed the entire time this possibly new lady was here, so nothing underhand could take place. But I am left feeling angry and scared for my mother.
We have had visits recently from the paramedics and social services - all of whom are happy with how my mother is being cared for, so there is no need for an OT from the Rehab Centre to be getting involved, especially when we have one visiting from Social Services on Tuesday.
I have lots of questions. Firstly, what rights does this OT actually have? Can she call the Police and ask them to barge into the house of a vulnerable old lady with dementia? She said she can as she was worried about my mother's safety. My mother slipped yesterday and had to be picked up by paramedics, which is what she said gave her grounds to be visiting in the first place, even though they were happy to leave my mother and she is visited 4 times a day by carers. Does she think she has the ability to tell if an elderly person is in danger more so than trained medical staff or those who work with my mother on a regular basis? Why would she not contact me or the carers beforehand to let us know she was turning up? Why act so underhanded? And is there really such a thing as an emergency OT who follows up on paramedic visits the day after, visiting elderly, vulnerable folk on their own at 8pm at night on a Sunday?!
I have to wonder if it the same OT who got the key cut and whose actions saw a random neighbour of my mother's pestering me for £10 the next time I visited.
I find it all vey strange. I feel like the Occupational Therapists from this particular facility are acting above the law. But is she actually able to do all of this? I don't know how to stop her. Phoning the supervisors did nothing. Can she actually get the Police out?
I'm still a bit stressed thinking about it all. Any advice on where to go from here would be hugely appreciated. Thanks.
My mother has dementia. It is early days though, so she lives on her own, has carers in 4 times a day, a pendant round her neck linked to a LifeLine telephone, and me dealing with things on a daily basis. She also has poor mobility and falls/slips off her chair a lot. Anyway, whenever she falls and a paramedic comes out to pick her up she ends up being referred to a Community Rehab centre, and it is the staff from here that I have a problem with.
A few months ago an occupational therapist rang from there asking me for all my details - seriously, everything, including my date of birth, ethnicity, etc - all a bit strange, unnecessary and overly invasive, but I gave over these details thinking I was helping. Anyway, the lady came over and assessed my mother's house and made suggestions of how we could make it more safe, all of which we acted on. But she would not stop there, insisting that my mother was unsafe at home, even though we had done everything she wanted.
Firstly, she paid a surprise visit to my mother, letting herself in using the keysafe code I had given her. While she was there, my mother could not find the door key on the inside of the door (it had been unwittingly moved by a carer), and this upset my mother. At the same time, a nosey neighbour stopped by to see what was going on. Instead of telephoning me or the carer, the occupational therapist borrowed £10 off this neighbour and went and got a key cut for my mother. I thought this was outrageous. I have no idea how many keys were actually cut and do not see what business it was of hers to be getting a key cut for my mother in the first place. I really felt she overstepped the mark. So, I phoned her supervisor and spoke to them and they were quite aggressive towards me, totally unsympathetic and unwilling to even speak to the OT. The OT persisted with her insistence that my mother needed to move out of her home, so she phoned my mother's social worker, who was great and told her very bluntly that she was overstepping the boundary and needed to stick to her own job and not that of a social worker. We never heard from her again.
I telephoned the Community Rehab centre recently as we need an OT to come round and assess the home again for some equipment, but I told them we did not need them to visit as we were expecting an OT to visit from Social Services instead. So, I was horrified to discover that today they made a surprise visit to my mother again. This time they could not get in as I had changed the code. But the night call carer turned up and found an OT on my mother's doorstep and let her in. The OT told her that if they had not let her in they would have telephoned the police to be let in as they were worried about the safety of my mother. Fortunately, the carer stayed the entire time this possibly new lady was here, so nothing underhand could take place. But I am left feeling angry and scared for my mother.
We have had visits recently from the paramedics and social services - all of whom are happy with how my mother is being cared for, so there is no need for an OT from the Rehab Centre to be getting involved, especially when we have one visiting from Social Services on Tuesday.
I have lots of questions. Firstly, what rights does this OT actually have? Can she call the Police and ask them to barge into the house of a vulnerable old lady with dementia? She said she can as she was worried about my mother's safety. My mother slipped yesterday and had to be picked up by paramedics, which is what she said gave her grounds to be visiting in the first place, even though they were happy to leave my mother and she is visited 4 times a day by carers. Does she think she has the ability to tell if an elderly person is in danger more so than trained medical staff or those who work with my mother on a regular basis? Why would she not contact me or the carers beforehand to let us know she was turning up? Why act so underhanded? And is there really such a thing as an emergency OT who follows up on paramedic visits the day after, visiting elderly, vulnerable folk on their own at 8pm at night on a Sunday?!
I have to wonder if it the same OT who got the key cut and whose actions saw a random neighbour of my mother's pestering me for £10 the next time I visited.
I find it all vey strange. I feel like the Occupational Therapists from this particular facility are acting above the law. But is she actually able to do all of this? I don't know how to stop her. Phoning the supervisors did nothing. Can she actually get the Police out?
I'm still a bit stressed thinking about it all. Any advice on where to go from here would be hugely appreciated. Thanks.
