Advice please

[terrysr]

I am new to the site and its comforting to understand that others are experiencing the same symptoms as mum. We are really worried , the consultant and social worker visited mum at home yesterday (she lives with my niece) and have said that they intend to take mum into hospital on a voluntary section in two weeks time . She is being cared for and the only rationale seems to be ' observation' . When we questioned the action we were told that if we objected then they would section her anyway ! Does any one have any experience or advice ? We dont want mum to be moved into hospital unless she needs medical attention . Shes 92 and gets frightened very easily .

 

[Lynne]

Hi Terry, welcome to TP (Talking Point) & I hope you find a lot of help here, even if it just the comfort of realising you are not alone in what you are coping with.

What occurred first to me, on reading your post, was 'perhaps your niece is finding things much harder than she is telling you, (because she doesn't want to 'let you down').
Perhaps the team who visited saw that and felt it might be in everyone's best interests to re-assess Mum & the care she needs, & give your niece a break.

I could be completely wrong, so please don't take offence; as I said, this was my initial thought, and remember I know nothing about how your Mum is, how she acts etc.
(If you have posted about it elsewhere, I haven't read it yet, sorry.) Perhaps you could tell us a little about your Mum, and how dementia affects her & her behaviour?

Best wishes

 

[Sandy]

Hi terrysr,

Welcome to Talking Point (TP).

My thoughts are running along similar lines to Lynne's. Generally speaking, people are not admitted to hospital unless there are some issues (such as challenging behaviour) that are endangering their health or the health of others.

If they are inferring that they could take her in under a section, then they should have some serious grounds for concern.

Some of the best resources on the specific issue of admission to hospital can be found on the MIND website, so you might want to look at this:

http://www.mind.org.uk/help/medical_and_alternative_care/how_to_cope_with_hospital_admission

Take care,

 

[Flower_fairy]

Hi,
Yes I agree with the above post. The wards are usually that bust that they would not do something as serious as a section without good cause. Seems to me they have not relayed their concerns to you well enough perhaps give them a ring and ask for the reasons again why they want her to go to hospital. As next of Kin you can try and stop the section happening but it is unlikely you would succeed if there are resonable grounds to admit her. Like I said try liaising with these people and see what the exact reasons are xx