Anyone Else Have an Issue with the Memory Clinic

[hellseer]

Anyone else have an issue with the Memory Clinic ? I'm constantly bought back to this problem with the Memory Clinic. I can phone them up an talk to them with is something but it's not even as though they don't do anything because they appear to take things the other way and make things harder.

Didn't mention any allowances, after 3 years one of our neighbours did. They prescribed some drugs and then almost immediately stopped because my father messed them around but I have that all the time. What really gets me though is the refusal to acknowlegde the actual situation.

Nurse come around, ask some rediculous questions while he's in his chair and then go away and just pretend everything is fine. Actually it's not fine, he's severly mentally ill.
I've been looked after by a specialist renal unit since I was a child, which is unusual but if they behaved the way our Memory Clinic does, every single patient would be dead by now.

 

[Beate]

All the Memory Clinic is there for is to diagnose, prescribe medication if appropriate and then monitor the situation in regular intervals, which in our case is every six months. They could signpost you to Social Services but they don't have to tell you about available allowances I'm afraid, so you might be expecting a little too much of them. In our case, we just have a little chat every six months, then the consultant writes a report to the GP so they can continue prescribing the medication.

 

[canary]

Hello hellseer and welcome to Talking Point.
Im afraid that what you are discovering is the dementia is the Cinderella of specialties as there is no cure, very little that can be done medically and the symptoms (not being able to look after themselves, wandering, confusion, agitation etc) are considered to be social rather than medical.

As Beate has said - the memory clinic is there to give a diagnosis and prescribe any drugs that might help. In mums case they didnt even offer follow-up appointments, once their job had been done (as they saw it) mum was discharged back to her GP. They dont do stuff on benefits - that is the job of Social Services, but because the Local Authority is so strapped for cash (because they have to pay for care of the "social" problems) they tend not to advertise what you can claim for.

Dementia is a very steep learning curve and I must say that this forum is about the only place where you can find answers to just about anything, all together. I have learned so much from here.

 

[marionq]

I am full of praise for our Clnic and John's psychiatrist. Beate is right that diagnosis and medication are what they do but they have also contacted our GP about other health concerns for John which started the ball rolling on checking out his heart. Until things stabilised they sent a CPN once a month to check on how he was and have told me I can phone anytime I need someone sent out.

It's probably poor communications with your clinic personnel as much as anything.

It took me a full year after diagnosis to figure out who was NHS, Social Services or Charity eg Alz Scotland etc. It was all so confusing and I felt overwhelmed. As Canary says it is quite a learning curve.

 

[canary]

You are very lucky where you are Marion. I think it depends where you are as to how good the memory clinic is - ours is rather overwhelmed down here due to a very large elderly population.

 

[Earthgirl72]

Dad's never been to Memory Clinic, when I asked about it - it was almost like it was a mythical place that the GP had never heard of. Dad has 6 monthly checks with his CPN - well, he did until the last one took up a new position. Still waiting for a new one to be appointed, let alone find out when he'll meet them.

 

[marionq]

If he has a CPN they work for the NHS and are attached to a consultant psychiatrist. Are you sure that he didn't attend any clinic?

 

[BJS]

My dad's CPN is as useless as chocolate teapot! When I talked to him about hallucinations and other stuff, he asked ME if I thought we should increase the dose of donepezil! When dad was diagnosed, the psychiatrist said, in dad's hearing, he will only get worse you know! (Well yes, I did know as I am not stupid, already realised he had dementia, and know dementia is a one way journey). I could hardly believe her attitude. No empathy, kindness, understanding. I could have hit her. I hope you have a better experience. Good luck

 

[Pear trees]

My mum was diagnosed with vascular dementia in hospital and referred to the Memory Clinic who do annual reviews and nothing else. The nurses insist my mum answer questions even when it is blindingly obvious she cannot answer them or do their tests and she gets very upset and distressed. One time it took nearly 3 hours to calm her after the visit. They claim the consultant will tell them off if tests are not done. They say Social Services would need the results but ss are not interested as my mum is self funding!
We now tell the nurses before the appointment they are only able to asses her by gently talking to her and will not let them upset mum with test questions.

 

[Starter]

The only thing the memory clinic has done for my mum is diagnose her. They prescribed donezepil which made her worse and when I asked if she could stop taking them they discharged her. Only her GP looking after her now and that's only if I take her with some physical ailment.

 

[jknight]

Mum is seen by the consultant every 4 months. She is on Sertraline as she became quite depressed after her diagnosis (she has never given any indication that she understands her diagnosis - bless her, she is as deaf as a post so, between that & alzheimer's, I am sure she has no idea)
She has never been tested since her initial assessment. No point. It would just upset her. I would like an assessment of her, for me, but not at the cost of her peace of mind.

 

[cuppatea]

I've had a hopeless visit to the memory clinic this afternoon. Asked oh if he was happy, or did he want to kill himself, then told him to eat fruit and fish - and goodbye. Luckily my expectations weren't great....

Sent from my SM-T713 using Talking Point mobile app

 

[haribocrazy]

We were really pleased to be sent to the memory clinic, not just for diagnosis but because were naively thought that some help would be forthcoming. As with everyone else, we have found that there was no help.

If you need any help you must be very pro-active. Have you contacted soc services? They are obliged to give your dad an assessment, although its best to understand what will happen before this takes place.

Read everything you can, ask questions all the time and don't expect anyone from soc services, the clinic etc to offer any advice that you did not ask for and already knew about.

Above all---keep reading sites like this. I have found out so much from here.

 

[marionq]

I've had a hopeless visit to the memory clinic this afternoon. Asked oh if he was happy, or did he want to kill himself, then told him to eat fruit and fish - and goodbye. Luckily my expectations weren't great....

Sent from my SM-T713 using Talking Point mobile app

This is appalling. I wonder why these clinics are so different. Who is staffing them? From the beginning we have seen a consultant psychiatrist every 4/6 months and a CPN once a month for over a year when things were bad. Are some of you only seeing nurses at these clinics? I did notice at an out patients clinic where John attended at our main hospital the nurses were not terribly clued up about dementia questions. In fact he was being fed the answers despite it being obvious that with questions about time and place he had not an earthly!

 

[Slugsta]

We saw a nurse for initial memory tests (after being assessed by someone from Alzheimer's Soc who have taken this on in our area), diagnosis was given by Psych and nurse saw Mum again after first 3 months.

After that, it is supposed to be annual reviews - but Mum is now in Care Home and no longer taking Donepizil, so they don't want to see her again.

At no stage was a CPN ever involved. The Memory Clinic nurse did tell me that we could claim AA for Mum, but that was the limit of information given.

It seems that there are only a few places where the Memory Clinic gives care that one would call 'good'!

 

[cuppatea]

Our appointment was with a locum consultant psychiatrist - lasted 20 mins. The fact that his first language isn't English meant I had to repeat everything he said - loudly. He asked me about various medications - is he taking aspirin, why not (bleed on brain) is he taking Donepezil or whatever it's called - no, should he? How am I supposed to know, he had the notes in front of him. Review in a year... Thank goodness for TP, I've learnt so much and continue to do so. You are all so generous in sharing your experiences, I am so grateful. Hope all your days go as well as possible.

 

[MaNaAk]

Anyone else have an issue with the Memory Clinic ? I'm constantly bought back to this problem with the Memory Clinic. I can phone them up an talk to them with is something but it's not even as though they don't do anything because they appear to take things the other way and make things harder.

Didn't mention any allowances, after 3 years one of our neighbours did. They prescribed some drugs and then almost immediately stopped because my father messed them around but I have that all the time. What really gets me though is the refusal to acknowlegde the actual situation.

Nurse come around, ask some rediculous questions while he's in his chair and then go away and just pretend everything is fine. Actually it's not fine, he's severly mentally ill.
I've been looked after by a specialist renal unit since I was a child, which is unusual but if they behaved the way our Memory Clinic does, every single patient would be dead by now.

Dear Hellseer,

I seem to have a slight issue with dad's last memory clinic visit after discussing the results of dad's last memory test the consultant said he would refer us to our local authority. However during my phonecall to them (during which I asked about our house as well as dad's care) they admitted that they hadn't heard from the hospital. This is a small point but I don't know what happened to my letter asking about when dad will be put on 10 mcg donepezil and I had to phone the hospital who said they would chase the doctor up about it!

This proves that professionals are human like the rest of us and they can't remember everything.

MaNaAk

 

[MaNaAk]

Our appointment was with a locum consultant psychiatrist - lasted 20 mins. The fact that his first language isn't English meant I had to repeat everything he said - loudly. He asked me about various medications - is he taking aspirin, why not (bleed on brain) is he taking Donepezil or whatever it's called - no, should he? How am I supposed to know, he had the notes in front of him. Review in a year... Thank goodness for TP, I've learnt so much and continue to do so. You are all so generous in sharing your experiences, I am so grateful. Hope all your days go as well as possible.

My goodness! This would be very confusing those dementia sufferers like my dad who are also deaf!

MaNaAk

 

[Elle3]

Hi, I can't comment too much on the memory clinic as our only experience so far is a visit by them to do an initial assessment of my dad and that the consultant is due to visit dad in his home next Thursday 25th May, hopefully to provide a diagnosis. However we seem to have been lucky as one of the ladies who came from the memory clinic also said she was an occupational health assessor so she also visited in that capacity a couple of weeks after the initial memory clinic assessment and she assessed his ability to take care of himself and make simple meals etc.

For advice regarding assistance/allowances etc I have found that registering with the local Carers Centre to be very helpful and supportive and even though I was very reluctant for Social Services to be involved, this was eventually taken out of my hands as the Police contacted them. I needn't have worried as we found them to be very helpful in assessing my dad's needs and providing support services. Although I have to say the installation of Care Line was not a big success and had to be removed 2 weeks later. But they did introduce me to a system called 'just checking' which has proved invaluable and which I am now renting through the council. My dad lives alone and likes to go out and walk (a lot) at all times of day and night and since having this system I can monitor his movements around his home and see when he goes out but also when he returns.

I would say if you are not happy with the memory clinic regarding medical issues speak to your GP, but for support services, allowances etc speak to either Social Services or the Carers Centre.

Take care.
Elle

 

[marionq]

This is good advice Elle and once again highlights the importance of picking your way between the different services ie social services, NHS and the charities such as CAB and Alzheimers Society.

I'm reasonably intelligent and found it hard for the first year to distinguish between them so older people who are getting a bit muddled have no chance.