Finding my mum's doctor's surgery so unhelpful!

[Kikki21]

I have been trying to get my mum into the doctor's for months now.She needs an overall health check up & also all her medications checking.

They are so unhelpful, it is a real travesty!

We made an appointment to take my mum to the doctor's this afternoon. While, my mum's support worker is there, I have rung up to remind her & my mum says i'm not going to go, I don't feel well enough!

Then she says that she cancelled the appointment yesterday.

She also had a dentist's appointment yesterday which she says she cancelled. One of her issues is that she keeps making appointments & then cancelling them.

So I ring the surgery, explain the situation, she hasn't cancelled the appointment, so i say ok cancel the appointment as she won't go, but she really needs seeing, what can we do?

Apparently I can make an appointment with my mum's permission so that we are present & the doctor will come out to the house which is great but then the person I am speaking to says but really you need to bring her in if she isn't housebound!

I was about 2 seconds away from losing it.... I said to her look she is 87, she has got dementia issues, she is classed as disabled & now her mental health issues are preventing her from being seen, what am I meant to do here?

So had to end the call without another appointment. Any suggestions on how to beat the system here?

We don't live locally to my mum so if we go to my mum's & call the doctor out, we could be there for a few hours & I would rather they know what they are dealing with before they come.

 

[Kikki21]

I've gone onto the surgery's website & found that there is a form that you can send in with comments & suggestions so yep... I've filled it in & sent it off!

The surgery must have 100's of patients on their books with dementia & you are telling me this is not a regular problem? BS all over it.

Let's see what they come back with!

 

[BR_ANA]

Can you not inform your mother about going to GP, but ask her to go to a cafe you ( or what ever bait she will get to go out with you).

I would try to talk to her GP, and not his clerk about your mum. Maybe going to appointment instead of mum. Maybe by email.

 

[fizzie]

Check with your surgery that they have a carers register, and get your name put on it, some surgeries use it properly and others don't. Our surgery said 'it won't give you priority' so I told them i was going to report them to the Trust because they were not using it properly and then to the CQC. Strangely their attitude changed.
Don't offer to take mum in, if they question it say she is 'unstable' - they probably wont think to say mentally or physically but if they do say both. Then tell them you want a home visit, this week, if they do it great, if they don't tell them you will report them to the Care Quality Commission because they are failing a vulnerable adult in need

 

[Risa]

Do you have the Health & Welfare POA for your Mum? If so, send a copy to your Practice Manager and ask them to add this to your Mum's records so there should be no problem with you accompanying her or talking about her medical condition to a GP.

If you don't have it, I think there is a form that the GP practice provide that your Mum will need to sign. This is the case at my Mum's practice if there is no POA.

We never tell Mum about medical appointments in advance as she would say there is nothing wrong with her. We just take her to Memory Clinic/GP and say we are waiting for Dr as he wants to speak to you.

 

[Kikki21]

Check with your surgery that they have a carers register, and get your name put on it, some surgeries use it properly and others don't. Our surgery said 'it won't give you priority' so I told them i was going to report them to the Trust because they were not using it properly and then to the CQC. Strangely their attitude changed.
Don't offer to take mum in, if they question it say she is 'unstable' - they probably wont think to say mentally or physically but if they do say both. Then tell them you want a home visit, this week, if they do it great, if they don't tell them you will report them to the Care Quality Commission because they are failing a vulnerable adult in need

Thank you Fizzle - one of my friends is a carer & she has said straightaway that the doctor's practice is failing my mum & to report to the CQC. I will wait to see how they respond to the email. No response as yet & it's been a few hours. I am also trying to get through to Social Services so that my mum's care is reassessed & that's proving to be a huge headache too.

Both my husband & I work from home so I can't tie up the phone line forever & a day!

 

[Kikki21]

Do you have the Health & Welfare POA for your Mum? If so, send a copy to your Practice Manager and ask them to add this to your Mum's records so there should be no problem with you accompanying her or talking about her medical condition to a GP.

If you don't have it, I think there is a form that the GP practice provide that your Mum will need to sign. This is the case at my Mum's practice if there is no POA.

We never tell Mum about medical appointments in advance as she would say there is nothing wrong with her. We just take her to Memory Clinic/GP and say we are waiting for Dr as he wants to speak to you.

Hi Risa - POA's are another thing to do on my very long to do list. We enquired about it a few months back & the cost through a solicitor was pretty high £1000. I know you can download the forms & do it yourself so we may just do that. I will have to do both POA's.

We can't not tell my mum about appointments, she would just dig her heels in even more!

 

[fizzie]

you can do POA online at a fraction of the cost and it is really simple, make sure you get health and welfare and financial. It is money well spent in my opinion. just google Power of Attorney and it will come up , it is a Government website

 

[Nellybell]

Poa

as fizzie says, do them online, each one costs £110 and they are very easy to do and SO much cheaper than paying a solicitor to do them.

 

[Kikki21]

Thank you, I will get POA's sorted out next week as we have a house sale going on at the moment & need the weekend to clear out the final bits before we complete.

I got a phone call from the surgery this morning anxious to sort things out after my email so we now have an appointment with a doctor coming round to my mum's next week, there is a 2 hour window attached to this but it's the best they could do.

I'm just feeling physically & mentally drained after all this chasing about, it is literally never ending!