There doesn't seem to be a dedicated 'relative in a care home' forum so I am posting here (hope you don't mind).
I have posted before about what it's like to have a relative who is often lucid but my dad, who is in a care home, is very alert. He calls us every day and never forgets who we are. The only time he forgot was when he went to hospital in January due to serious confusion as the result of a very low and irregular heart rate (he did not take his heart tablets for 2 months). He keeps telling us he is sick of the food in the care home (they're unhealthy - they give him pies and bacon sandwiches and he has high cholesterol). As a result he is still underweight and doesn't eat. He was annoyed today because he said he can't talk to anyone else there (residents) as they are like zombies. I am concerned he is not able to talk to people who are as 'alert' as he is and so has to shut himself off in his room. He isn't getting nay mental stimulation from other people. I know he constantly packs his bags to leave each evening which concerns me. I know that to be a sign of dementia, though. Still, I want him reassessed.
Is there any way I can get a doctor independent of the care home to look at him? How do we go about doing this? The care home manager seems very uninterested and just keeps saying 'he has dementia'. She is also very unhelpful on most things. She never told us he has a new doctor for example. She never told us it was not okay to bring him food and got annoyed after he took some food to his room and made a mess (initially she said it was fine). Anyway that's sort of a separate matter but I want to call in an independent doctor or have my father go to a facility outside of the care home without the manager there to be monitored for a few weeks (and I will pay for that).
I have posted before about what it's like to have a relative who is often lucid but my dad, who is in a care home, is very alert. He calls us every day and never forgets who we are. The only time he forgot was when he went to hospital in January due to serious confusion as the result of a very low and irregular heart rate (he did not take his heart tablets for 2 months). He keeps telling us he is sick of the food in the care home (they're unhealthy - they give him pies and bacon sandwiches and he has high cholesterol). As a result he is still underweight and doesn't eat. He was annoyed today because he said he can't talk to anyone else there (residents) as they are like zombies. I am concerned he is not able to talk to people who are as 'alert' as he is and so has to shut himself off in his room. He isn't getting nay mental stimulation from other people. I know he constantly packs his bags to leave each evening which concerns me. I know that to be a sign of dementia, though. Still, I want him reassessed.
Is there any way I can get a doctor independent of the care home to look at him? How do we go about doing this? The care home manager seems very uninterested and just keeps saying 'he has dementia'. She is also very unhelpful on most things. She never told us he has a new doctor for example. She never told us it was not okay to bring him food and got annoyed after he took some food to his room and made a mess (initially she said it was fine). Anyway that's sort of a separate matter but I want to call in an independent doctor or have my father go to a facility outside of the care home without the manager there to be monitored for a few weeks (and I will pay for that).