First visit
Thank you everyone for your replies.
I visited the respite that had been highly recommended to us with my mother last week. On first impressions we were pleasantly surprised and my mother liked it and was looking forward to her stay. During the visit I made the duty manager aware of all dietary needs and was informed they wouldn't be an issue as the chief would be able to accommodate my mothers needs.
On arrival today to respite things were very different to the day we visited as the check in process was very unorganised, the room was not ready and the chief was not aware of my mothers dietary needs.
CQC had arrived whilst we were there to carry out an inspection, I was extremely surprised that when I was leaving no one went to my mother to spend time with her or ask if she wanted to join in the activities. I did bring this up with the care staff after I left as my mother did get upset when I was leaving which I did expect.
After only a few hours there my mother decided she wanted to come home, after many conversations of me having to call the management and them not calling me back a decision was made by all for my mother to return home.
As my mother is in the very early stages of Alzheimer's she is still very independent in many areas. Both she and I felt the other residents at respite were a lot more advanced then her which she found very unsettling and distressing to the point that it has put her off trying other respites at this time.
After today's experience I do feel my mother would be more suited to a respite placement for other individuals with early onset who are of a similar level to her. I am a social care manager and have a sibling with autism in residential care and am therefore very familiar with the field of care.
Does anyone know of any such respites in or around the Hertfordshire area? Alternatively does anyone have other suggestions for other forms of respite? as my father and I both do need some form of respite which would be beneficial to both of us and my mother.
Regards
Ladym@d