Hello. I live in Canada and am the only family member available for my sister in London. Have been trying for one year to get memory assessment to trigger Power of attorney so lawyer can protect her money. She has alarming judgement, giving money away, running out each month. Her GP retired and new GP only takes appointments the same day and usually booked. I cant risk flying over to take her to doctor if we dont get an appointment. I have talked to her GP on phone and he is unsympathetic to the issue and will not ensure us an appointment. Any advice on going private? I would be happy to pay as am desperate to get PofA in force. I cant really stay in UK for weeks either. Need an assessment while I am there.
Advice on getting a diagnosis
- Thread starter cabbac
- Start date
Hi @cabbac and welcome to DTP. It must be very difficult to try and sort things out in another country.
You have mentioned two things here - trying to get a diagnosis and also getting her lawyer (solicitor?) to be able to implement the POA. Does the POA specify that it can only be used once capacity is lost? In UK a diagnosis of dementia does not imply that capacity is lost - there are many, many people with a diagnosis of dementia who are still considered to have capacity, so a diagnosis may not solve your problem. It can also take a while to get a diagnosis, even once she has been seen by the GP as he would refer her to a memory clinic and there is usually a waiting list. You probably can go privately, but Im not sure how to achieve this.
Is her solicitor not able to get her capacity checked himself? Solicitors have to check that people have the capacity to understand what they are signing for when doing wills and taking out POA and if there is any doubt, they usually get someone to check them, so I would have thought that he would have contacts.
You have mentioned two things here - trying to get a diagnosis and also getting her lawyer (solicitor?) to be able to implement the POA. Does the POA specify that it can only be used once capacity is lost? In UK a diagnosis of dementia does not imply that capacity is lost - there are many, many people with a diagnosis of dementia who are still considered to have capacity, so a diagnosis may not solve your problem. It can also take a while to get a diagnosis, even once she has been seen by the GP as he would refer her to a memory clinic and there is usually a waiting list. You probably can go privately, but Im not sure how to achieve this.
Is her solicitor not able to get her capacity checked himself? Solicitors have to check that people have the capacity to understand what they are signing for when doing wills and taking out POA and if there is any doubt, they usually get someone to check them, so I would have thought that he would have contacts.
The GP won't diagnose dementia, s/he will refer you to the memory clinic for further tests and diagnosis. So a GP appointment will start the process but there may then be a wait of several weeks for a memory clinic appointment, and they will probably also want to send her to the hospital for an MRI - so it can take weeks or even months depending on how efficient the NHS happens to be feeling.
If you want to go private the process could be speeded up. Google 'find a private GP' to find details of one in your mother's location and give them a call. But again they will probably refer her on to a specialist so it's unlikely you will get a diagnosis in one day.
However as Canary says a diagnosis does not automatically = lack of capacity, so you would also need to ask one of the doctors for a written opinion on that.
If you want to go private the process could be speeded up. Google 'find a private GP' to find details of one in your mother's location and give them a call. But again they will probably refer her on to a specialist so it's unlikely you will get a diagnosis in one day.
However as Canary says a diagnosis does not automatically = lack of capacity, so you would also need to ask one of the doctors for a written opinion on that.
