Hi, I'm new here, it shows you something I spelled my intended username wrongly when I registered (it should be loobiloo)... I can't think straight!
I'd be very grateful for any help/support/advice.
My dad, 86 & lives alone, has been mildly confused and disorientated for about the past year, and has had memory problems for years before that. He has difficulty with his speech. No diagnosis has been offered despite visiting (twice) and writing to the GP just before Christmas. The doctor did indicate it might be 'vascular' but no tests done.
Fast forward to Monday last week and dad had a serious fall on his daily walk into town. He was found face down in the road, and whisked off to the nearest hospital. Broken shoulder, bumps and bruises to face and hands and very nasty bruising to his arm. He was ok though, in terms of his mood, and occupational therapy (and another I don't remember) deemed him fit to be discharged on the Tuesday. Well, we spent that day ringing round and eventually spoke to the social worker in charge of the case who tried to help us. She persuaded the hospital to keep him another night and it's a good job she did.
Late on Tuesday afternoon he started to hallucinate and was found wandering outside the hospital. He was eventually taken back to the ward but when we saw him on the Wednesday he was extremely distressed and seeing 'things', making up fantastical stories and recalling fragments of memories from long ago. All this while still on the clinical decisions unit, a very busy place that was distressing him more.
Thankfully he has now been admitted and is on the geriatric ward (has been since Thusday evening). His state of confusion has reduced, but his mobility is still poor and he has been very dehydrated. We've been trying to get more information about his medical well-being but apart from the tests that have been done, no-one's saying very much. CT scan was ok, renal function lowered, low blood pressure etc. But no diagnosis.
So I guess I'm here looking for advice about what happens next?
Number one, is to get him medically stable, of course. Then the nurse mentioned a care needs assessment before discharge from hospital. Will that include means testing? And would a continuing care assessment be appropriate? Is that done automatically or do we need to ask? I need to speak to the social worker again as well, but it's bank holiday weekend and I have all these questions...
We (my dad included) would like him to go directly to a care home, one that he was already planning to visit before this happened. I'm panicking that they'll assess him as safe to go home because presumably that would complicate matters?
Also, we have power of attorney, but it seems like the assessments need to be done before we can use the health & welfare one? Does anyone have experience of this?
Sorry for the long post. I'm living on coffee and adrenaline right now :-(
I'd be very grateful for any help/support/advice.
My dad, 86 & lives alone, has been mildly confused and disorientated for about the past year, and has had memory problems for years before that. He has difficulty with his speech. No diagnosis has been offered despite visiting (twice) and writing to the GP just before Christmas. The doctor did indicate it might be 'vascular' but no tests done.
Fast forward to Monday last week and dad had a serious fall on his daily walk into town. He was found face down in the road, and whisked off to the nearest hospital. Broken shoulder, bumps and bruises to face and hands and very nasty bruising to his arm. He was ok though, in terms of his mood, and occupational therapy (and another I don't remember) deemed him fit to be discharged on the Tuesday. Well, we spent that day ringing round and eventually spoke to the social worker in charge of the case who tried to help us. She persuaded the hospital to keep him another night and it's a good job she did.
Late on Tuesday afternoon he started to hallucinate and was found wandering outside the hospital. He was eventually taken back to the ward but when we saw him on the Wednesday he was extremely distressed and seeing 'things', making up fantastical stories and recalling fragments of memories from long ago. All this while still on the clinical decisions unit, a very busy place that was distressing him more.
Thankfully he has now been admitted and is on the geriatric ward (has been since Thusday evening). His state of confusion has reduced, but his mobility is still poor and he has been very dehydrated. We've been trying to get more information about his medical well-being but apart from the tests that have been done, no-one's saying very much. CT scan was ok, renal function lowered, low blood pressure etc. But no diagnosis.
So I guess I'm here looking for advice about what happens next?
Number one, is to get him medically stable, of course. Then the nurse mentioned a care needs assessment before discharge from hospital. Will that include means testing? And would a continuing care assessment be appropriate? Is that done automatically or do we need to ask? I need to speak to the social worker again as well, but it's bank holiday weekend and I have all these questions...
We (my dad included) would like him to go directly to a care home, one that he was already planning to visit before this happened. I'm panicking that they'll assess him as safe to go home because presumably that would complicate matters?
Also, we have power of attorney, but it seems like the assessments need to be done before we can use the health & welfare one? Does anyone have experience of this?
Sorry for the long post. I'm living on coffee and adrenaline right now :-(
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