Hi, Does anybody know whether my Mum is entitled to have a community nurse come round and visit her on a daily basis to ensure that she takes her medication. She has just been diagnosed last week and obviously with everything else we need to organise between us our heads are muddled too. We dont know where to start. She does have savings but we do not have POA as yet, but hopefully will do shortly.
Community Nurse
- Thread starter Stan123
- Start date
Hi Stan,
In our area the Community Nurse would not do this sort of visiting. However you can always ask your GP about it. He may refer you to Social Services or you can get in touch with your local branch yourself.
You have a right to a needs assessment both for your Mum and yourself as carer. Social Services are the folk who do these. This is a factsheet which explains it:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=131
I hope that helps. I am sure others will be along to support you soon and please keep posting with any queries or help you need.
In our area the Community Nurse would not do this sort of visiting. However you can always ask your GP about it. He may refer you to Social Services or you can get in touch with your local branch yourself.
You have a right to a needs assessment both for your Mum and yourself as carer. Social Services are the folk who do these. This is a factsheet which explains it:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=131
I hope that helps. I am sure others will be along to support you soon and please keep posting with any queries or help you need.
When I asked I was told a nurse would not come just to give medication. I started with a carer paid privately every morning as this was when she had most of her medication. We had to lock the medication away to prevent her taking it incorrectly ie in the middle of the night then again in the morning. I was going to buy a safe from Argos but she was then taken into full time care.
Care agencies are expensive but you might be eligible for benefits to help cover some of the costs so worth applying. Ours helps with dressing and breakfast too which was good.
Care agencies are expensive but you might be eligible for benefits to help cover some of the costs so worth applying. Ours helps with dressing and breakfast too which was good.
Thats very informative thanks. It is always very difficult when family members each have full time jobs with long hours. Our first priority at the moment is to get her a personal alarm and sort out POA. I have phoned the Doctor to ask about possible care options and they have referred us back to the memory clinic back at the hospital who want a meeting to discuss these things. Again it is difficult to attend all these meetings as I personally would have to take time off work or take time off without pay. We have a further appointment on 2nd September to find out whether the initial medication my Mum is taking is working perhaps I could ask then, but dont really want to discuss it in front of my Mum.
All the Memory Clinic can do is adjust medication and refer you to Social Services for further support. They could outline in a report what they think might be beneficial in that respect but ultimately it's up to SS, so ring them now and ask for an assessment - it might take you a while to get someone allocated so best act now.
Thanks for the advice although I would suspect that as my Mum has significant savings and she is reasonably compus mentis at the moment then Social Services will say they wont offer any help. My personal view is to wait until we have POA sorted as at this stage we are asking Mum to sign a lot of forms and too much change might upset her. My sister is going on holiday for two weeks soon anyway. I just dont want to leave things too long like we have done so far, and then when my Mum deteriorates there is one big mad panic to get things organised. I will also look into the cost of providing care privately through the NHS. This has been very helpful.
If your mum is well enough to understand them, there are gadgets like pill dispensers which open to dispense pills every day and have an alarm if they aren't taken out. They did offer one to my MIL but although she was coping with everyday gadgets, unfortunately she couldn't get the idea of that one - if it is fairly early days, it might be a good idea to introduce it now, so that she can get into the habit of using it.
Hi Arielsmelody, We have looked at those, even those you can get linked up to a help desk that text carers etc when they dont take them, but my Mum has never been very good with gadgets so I think that will probably confuse her even more. But thanks anyway.
Yes, my MIL is much the same so it didn't work for her either.
We've had all sorts of fuss trying to get someone to oversee her medication. Having a member of family ring every day to remind her didn't help, because she would say yes then still forget to actually take the pills. She had a private carer through Age Concern for a while, but they weren't allowed to give her medication. She's got carers through the social services now, who are OK to give her the medication, but rather than a family member putting it into daily pill boxes as we have done up to now, we have to arrange for it to come in blister packs from the pharmacy.
We've had all sorts of fuss trying to get someone to oversee her medication. Having a member of family ring every day to remind her didn't help, because she would say yes then still forget to actually take the pills. She had a private carer through Age Concern for a while, but they weren't allowed to give her medication. She's got carers through the social services now, who are OK to give her the medication, but rather than a family member putting it into daily pill boxes as we have done up to now, we have to arrange for it to come in blister packs from the pharmacy.
Hello - even though your Mum is self funding, you are still both entitled to the assessments. Even if you end up paying all or most of the costs, it will help to highlight what is available/ possible.
In respect of medication, it may be worth asking the GP if her meds can be adjusted so that the most important ones are taken together and you could then arrange a 15 min carer visit to check your Mum and ensure the prime medications are taken.
Good luck and keep posting and asking as people will have different types of experience / knowledge and one of them may well be the "fit" for your situation.
Celia
In respect of medication, it may be worth asking the GP if her meds can be adjusted so that the most important ones are taken together and you could then arrange a 15 min carer visit to check your Mum and ensure the prime medications are taken.
Good luck and keep posting and asking as people will have different types of experience / knowledge and one of them may well be the "fit" for your situation.
Celia
You may find social services are just not interested if your mother had considerable savings, they aren't in our area.
The best thing is to start looking online on sites such as CQC which will list care agencies in your area and their areas of care. Then once you have poa sorted you can be prepared to move on it
The best thing is to start looking online on sites such as CQC which will list care agencies in your area and their areas of care. Then once you have poa sorted you can be prepared to move on it
Yep, that is the way I think we have to approach it. Thanks for the link though Ill check it out.
You should certainly get both PoA completed and registered as soon as possible. I hope you never have to use them but if your Mum does deteriorate then you will be very glad you did.
However as your Mum still has capacity it will be up to her to decide on the Property and Finance one when she allows her attorneys to have any control. If she says that you can use her money from the first day to pay for any care then fine but if she says "NO" then you cannot.
As others have said the DN will not come out for the daily taking of medication and if family are not able to do it then it will be necessary to pay someone else to do it. Have you asked your Mum if she is willing to do this? If not are you as a family willing/able to do so? Depending what the med is for may well determine how long your Mum remains independent.
I wish you and your Mum well.
