Lots of things to understand.

[Elaine p]

Hi Everyone,
I found this site while trying to get imformation and insight on Alzheimers,
In a nut shell,
Father left home 4 yrs ago, went from England to France, We knew he was starting to act strange, but we were powerless to help him,
We have now been contacted and told he is in a hospital in France, after having a fall, the authoritise say he has advanced Alzheimers, cannot feed himself, is confused, and has no one to care for him,they are saying we should go and fetch him back to England,
my first thought was has he got a passport,,,
then the nightmare kicked in, where do we start, what right's does he have, where can he go, will he know us .
I don't know what to do.
regards Elaine.

 

[jenniferpa]

Elaine - welcome to Talking Point.

This sounds such a nightmare and really, I don't know how to advise you since this is well outside the norm. I would suggest that you call the Alzheimer's Society helpline http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/helpline since they have resources that we don't have, and it's possible they may have come across this before.

Can I ask - is your father married? Or are you (and any siblings) next of kin?

Another thing to think about - even though you been told to get him, I'm not at all sure that he doesn't have a right to stay where he is. Whether he has a passport is probably the least of your worries: there will be a record somewhere about that, and it is possible (not easy) to get temporary travel papers in an emergency.

I think probably the best thing is to take a deep breath and not rush into anything. I have no doubt that the authorities are pushing you to take fast action, but I doubt they will be tossing him out on the street.

 

[gigi]

Hello Elaine,

Welcome to Talking Point, but so sorry about the circumstances which have led you to find us.

Off the top of my head I suggest you start by phoning the AS Helpline on 0845 300 0336 and ask for their advice. Hopefully they will be able to point you in the right direction.

This must be an awful worry for you.

I'm sure other members may have some further help and advice for you.

Please keep in touch, we'll help all we can.

Love xx

 

[Lynne]

Hello Elaine

My sympathies on what sounds like it could be a complicated situation to start off with - I hope the helpline will be able to help you.
Has your Dad been living with someone else in France, or working there?

Lots of "ifs & buts" right now, which will become clearer in time, but it occurs to me that your Dad may not have "Advanced Alzheimer's", but may in fact have Alzheimer's + an infection which has caused his condition to suddenly take a dive. There are many, many cases related here of the drastic effects a simple urinary or chest infection can have, frequently sorted by antibiotics.

Best wishes, and please feel free to have a rant here if it all gets very frustrating (as I imagine it might until the 'international' aspects get untangled, and then some ...).
We want to know how things go, and help if we can. There are TP members all over the world, the disease knows no national borders.

 

[Elaine p]

Jennifer and Gigi,

I must have been been holding my emotions in, as soon as I read your replies and realised someone was listening, I burst in to tears,

I had not thought about temporary papers if he has to come back to England, that thought helped .
Mother died 4 years again, hence him taking off,
just us two siblings are his closed family,

will now look at the link you set up for me,
big thank you.
love from Elaine.

 

[jenniferpa]

Elaine - I don't know whether you have seen this

http://ukinfrance.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/when-things-go-wrong/

 

[MJW]

Help overseas

Please try contacting the Foreign Office. The FO has specialist advisers that you can phone and who will have experience in re-patriating British citizens who are taken ill overseas. They will have all the relevant contacts to be able to help you. The FO has a website so you should be able to find the relevant phone number on there. This situation probably arises quite often, given the number of UK citizens who retire abroad, so I think they will have a fairly standard procedure in place. Good luck!

As an aside, perhaps the French hospital think your father would be better off in the UK because there may not be many English-speaking care staff/nurses available to him now?

 

[Michael E]

Hi Everyone,
I found this site while trying to get imformation and insight on Alzheimers,
In a nut shell,
Father left home 4 yrs ago, went from England to France, We knew he was starting to act strange, but we were powerless to help him,
We have now been contacted and told he is in a hospital in France, after having a fall, the authoritise say he has advanced Alzheimers, cannot feed himself, is confused, and has no one to care for him,they are saying we should go and fetch him back to England,
my first thought was has he got a passport,,,
then the nightmare kicked in, where do we start, what right's does he have, where can he go, will he know us .
I don't know what to do.
regards Elaine.

Dear Elaine,

Lynne emailed me to have a 'go' at your questions as I have lived in France for some 8 years and my wife has had Alzheimers for most of that time and is currently in a French Alzheimer's home.

The French situation with the authorities is that they would like to get him out of France so they do not have to pick up the bill for looking after him.. From what I have seen of UK and French hospital care and Alzheimers homes I would say the French are probably much better... Somewhat less expensive.

The law in France however is that 'family' must pay the fees for homes until the family has around 20,000€.... Unlike the UK where it is the patient who pays - is responsible...

The 'French' system cannot enforce payment from you although will try hard to do so... Provided you have no money or property in France they will just have to look after your Father and will be unable to come after you for the money.... I can see no reason why if he is very advanced Alzheimer's why you should not just leave him in France where the care will be excellent.

The alternative is to bring him back to the UK... You would almost certainly need to use a 'specialist' private ambulance service to transport him to the UK... Probably better to use a UK company to get around language problems and you can 'google' this. The cost will be around £6,000...

Bringing him into the UK will present the actually small problem that he is probably non resident and out of the NH system. This is no big deal as to get him back in you only need to register him with a GP... You might want to 'book' him into a UK care home and pay the first months fees yourself - the home will register him with the GP they use and then you may apply to the SS services for payment of the home assuming he has no assets.. Others on the forum will be able to tell you about the system in the UK better than me.

I speak good French and understand the system here pretty well so send me a private message and I will send you my email address so we can talk directly and if your father is anywhere near me La Rochelle/Royan I will try to visit

The passport problem is very small and easily solved - you would just have to apply for a new one from the Paris consulate and they are most helpful - would probably just give you a letter to get your father into the UK... It costs around £160 a Brit friend of mine from Italy had hers stolen and it all worked out easily...

rgds

Michael

 

[gigi]

The Power of TP...

Thankyou Lynne, and thankyou Michael, for your timely intervention...

Dear Elaine...

I must have been been holding my emotions in, as soon as I read your replies and realised someone was listening, I burst in to tears,

Hang on in there...and keep the tissues handy..whatever you want to say we're here to listen.

I sincerely hope that from the information/contacts you've received that this can be sorted.

Love xx

 

[Elaine p]

Not sure if I pressed the correct button to reply to Michael ,Lynn and Gigi and others,
Thankyou for all the help and the kind offers,
I can tell it is not going to be easy,,,,,
I am more at ease knowing he could be cared for in France,
We cannot provide a home for him with us,
He could afford care in either a French or English care home,
but how he would deal with his finances I do not know, if he has lost the mental capacity to do these sort of thing's maybe the aurthoritise's could sort it out,
I have just had a phone call to say the reason he is in a Paris hospital is because he fell and broke his coxic,I cannot spell that ( tail end of his spine )
I just wanted to say thankyou and feel so much better knowing I have somewhere to come to try and get answers, The link to the Alzheimers Society and e.mail has been a great help if a little overwhelming with the written word, I am about to read through all that they send me,
Elaine.

 

[gigi]

Hello again Elaine.

Glad you have some helpful information to hand. At least for now you know that your dad is being cared for and is safe while you explore the options.

Do keep in touch and let us know how things are going.

Love xx

 

[Elaine p]

Time and events have moved on,,,

Drawn once again to this site,
It has been so hard to get imformation on Father's health,

but yesterday recieved a letter from a gentleman who had visited father in hospital, he has now been moved from main part to long term care, after being assessed by something like social services,he does not know anyone, and has advanced Alzheimers, the gentleman was able to go to where father had been living and find his passport for the hospital, it seems that the hospital need to see what finance's father has to pay for his care,The appartment was not fit for human habitation, and the gentleman seemed to think father had been living in a bad way for a long time, and at least now he is being cared for ,
it seems so sad and wrong that a well educated man with friends all over the world , should end up ,in such a state.
I'm at a loss for words now, sorry. Elaine P.

 

[gigi]

Thanks for the update, Elaine.

It must be very distressing for you to hear how your dad has been living...and struggling to cope.

it seems so sad and wrong that a well educated man with friends all over the world , should end up ,in such a state.

I know..sadly dementia doesn't discriminate.

The main thing is that you know now that dad is being cared for..try to hang on to that.

Please post whenever you want, Elaine, we're here to support and help.

Love xx

 

[Elaine p]

I just want to say thank you to everyone who gave me help and replied to my quieries.
everything happened really fast, dad did not spend long in the hospital, even though we thought he would be there years,
He died a short time ago, will now beable to bring him home .

Once again thank you.

 

[turbo]

Hello Elaine, I am so sorry to hear the sad news that your dad has died.

Turbo

 

[lin1]

Please accept my condolences