Diagnosis of Dementia and ongoing care

[Millieminor]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can can advise me. I m a carer for my mother. She has been in hospital for 2 weeks after a failed discharge the first time. She has a form of Dementia that is undiagnosed due to my mother not wanting medical intervention at the first signs , however due to her recent fragility and cognitive decline she is now having lots of falls hence hospitalisations. They and I have agreed she is probably now going down hill quickly and needs 24 hr type care . But from phone calls today they appear to be back tracking and are fobbing me off . I am unable to give her the full care as I also look after my husband who has a health issue . I’m so worried they are going to send her home without a decent package of care . She is unable to find this herself . I’ve had 4 drs on the phone today saying she will need a lot of help can I stop them sending her home without sufficient care. Do I as the carer with LPA have any rights . I’m just not sure what to do as they sent her out of hospital 2 weeks ago with a totally inadequate care her GP was disgusted and sent her back by ambulance .

 

[nae sporran]

Hullo and welcome @Millieminor. That is a stressful time for you all and one I remember from about 7 years ago. The hospital should have a social work department who can arrange a care package. That would be a good place to start. When something like it happened to my partner I got support from the carers liaison officer who worked for the carers support centre. https://carers.org/ should help you find a local centre. I remember that time the consultant was embarrassed enough by a failed discharge he made sure all the bases were covered second time round and it seems odd as well as disappointed your mother's hospital is not thinking on the same lines. Of course a hospital should have a patient liaison service or Pals service of their own and you can try there as well.
I hope any of those options work for you.

 

[canary]

You are perfectly within your rights to say that you can only accept your mum back with a proper care package (or even not at all), but you will have to be very firm about it and dig your heels in. Point out that nobody wants another failed discharge. Make quite sure that they do not hear your "no" as "maybe", or they will just send her back like they did last time.

 

[Millieminor]

Thank you both for your reply’s . I will follow up on all the suggestions . It’s such a daunting prospect . You think everyone at the hospital has your mothers best interests but I’m realising it’s more who will pay .