GP not wanting to help with other issues

[Pebble55]

Hello, we are experiencing an issue at the moment with my grandmother. She has dementia and we have gone to social services for help and they keep saying we need to go to our GP. The problem is when we go to the GP with her it seems as if they don’t want to get ‘stuck’ with a dementia patient. They are all friendly and eager to help her until they see that she is a dementia patient and then they claim that her issues are due to old age (we received this treatment after we took her to the GP regarding an injured leg). The social worker said that this is a common problem and that we need to be persistent. I was wondering if anyone else had this problem? Currently it seems as if they don’t want to help until she has a serious issue (either an accident or on purpose) and then they’ll be forced to help her as she then official on the ‘system’.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and how they overcome it?
thank you

 

[sdmhred]

Yes I am with you…my mum has a rare disease …..and I kept getting told her symptoms were down to ‘old age’ or ‘general decline’….I’m afraid it took a crisis and a hospital admission ….although I still hear the same rhetoric with her now ….as if the health of PWD doesnt matter.

Persist with clinical evidence where you can…..

Ask other family members to advocate for you. That has also worked for us.

Be clear with what you want from them too - often if it’s not too much hassles they may agree to get rid of you.

we are ageist and definitely discriminatory aga8nst PWD in the health and social care system

 

[Phil2020]

In my mum's case prior to getting a formal diagnosis of dementia from a consultant we were sent from pillar to post by much of the medical profession who didn't seem that interested. Once a formal diagnosis was obtained matters changed quite dramatically & there's been no issues since. So, if your gran hasn't yet got a formal diagnosis from a consultant, maybe that's worth pursing?