Care plan?
- Thread starter Grable
- Start date
I see from your previous posts that your mum lives a long way from you so having carers and a care plan seems like a good idea. I wonder whether your mum has a social worker?
If so it would be a good idea to get in touch with them.
Some people fund this themselves and some people are able to get carers funded.
Carers are normally engaged via an agency so if your mum is funding it herself you can find what agencies are available on the internet and give them a ring. By talking to them you can find out what they could offer and how much it might cost.
Before they will "take on" your mum to their books they will do an assessment and that is when the care plan is written. It would be a good idea for you to be present for that as you can let them know what you want to be done etc.
My parents had carers who came in to look after mum twice a week so that dad could go out. Part of the carers' job was to do cleaning in the house which was FANTASTIC as I am sure you can imagine!
It's a big question you have asked so my answer is probably not really enough.
If so it would be a good idea to get in touch with them.
Some people fund this themselves and some people are able to get carers funded.
Carers are normally engaged via an agency so if your mum is funding it herself you can find what agencies are available on the internet and give them a ring. By talking to them you can find out what they could offer and how much it might cost.
Before they will "take on" your mum to their books they will do an assessment and that is when the care plan is written. It would be a good idea for you to be present for that as you can let them know what you want to be done etc.
My parents had carers who came in to look after mum twice a week so that dad could go out. Part of the carers' job was to do cleaning in the house which was FANTASTIC as I am sure you can imagine!
It's a big question you have asked so my answer is probably not really enough.
Although mum is self funding, I began by ringing social services for recommendations from them of local care providers.
Based on mum's 3 times a day visit, my experience is that whatever care plan is agreed at the assessment stage, the various carers will invariably not carry out any weekly chores such as changing bed linen, vacuum, cleaning fridge (mum puts back scraps etc) unless there is a physical check list of these chores posted on a board, to be ticked off as and when completed.
These are really useful comments. Does anybody have any other experiences they would like to share about possible pitfalls and things I might forget when discussing a care plan?
Also, I'd be interested to know how people have convinced their parents that such a thing would be helpful to them! Mum is still fiercely independent and getting more stubborn by the minute (traits which have served her very well in the past, I have to say, and have helped her to escape from very unpleasant beginnings!), but she is obviously going to need help soon if she's to stay in her own house on her own terms for much longer.
Also, I'd be interested to know how people have convinced their parents that such a thing would be helpful to them! Mum is still fiercely independent and getting more stubborn by the minute (traits which have served her very well in the past, I have to say, and have helped her to escape from very unpleasant beginnings!), but she is obviously going to need help soon if she's to stay in her own house on her own terms for much longer.
In my experience you will not convince your mum. I guess she is in the early stages of Dementia, which for me was the most frustrating time. On hindsight there is no mileage in trying to convince your mum - I mean I even tried to convince her she had Dementia
. After a couple of years, there came a time when mum could not work the cooker or microwave or fill and switch the kettle on and that is the time we then called in the care (three times a day). I feel we may have done this a little later than we should have.
Depending on her condition, I feel the best way would be to introduce a carer gently into her household once a day and you to be there during those initial visits. Hopefully she will quietly accept the help when they make her a cup of tea and ask her to put her feet up and get into the routine as my mum did very quickly.
Maybe the best possible way to rationalise it to your mum is just tell her it is for your own peace of mind, you want to know she is safe on a daily basis and therefore ensure she can stay in her own home as long as possible. I have found the great fear and behind the obstinacy, was the thought of being sent to an old peoples home. Even now 9 years down the line, mum still tries to articulate how well she is doing in her own home, because, I guess, of that innate fear of being moved.
I wish you all the best in the journey you are commencing with your mum.
