Health and welfare LPA?

[LisaV]

Hello everyone
My Dad's Alzheimer's is getting steadily worse - his memory is terrible now, he's increasingly frail and he is beginning to show signs of next stages (can't dress himself, incontinence, etc). At the moment we have carers going in three times a day at home, but we are beginning to look at options for care homes as we are concerned he is vulnerable.

My brother and I have LPA for Dad's finances, which we activated a few years ago and now look after all his financial affairs.
However when Dad got the LPA done at the solicitors, he was too tight to get the health one done too!

This may well cause us a problem with care homes, he is very proud and is likely to refuse to go into a care home - he thinks he is fine and when visitors come he does his best to appear like he is coping, even though we see the real condition he is in when nobody else is there. Sometimes (30% of the time) he appears to be completely together (although with poor memory), but very often now he is so confused he doesn't even know where he lives.

So my question is - are we too late to get him to submit for a health and wellbeing LPA?

Thanks for any suggestions or experience on this one.....

 

[Kevinl]

As next of kin when it comes to hospital issues poa is better but next of kin still works.
Care home placement is a different thing.
Sorry can't help.
K

 

[Rayreadynow]

Health and Welfare LPA.

If he is assessed as having capacity it should be ok. If not then it is too late I would think.

 

[nitram]

So my question is - are we too late to get him to submit for a health and wellbeing LPA?

Probably, yes.
Terrible memory means failure of capacity test?
You could try asking a solicitor.
Would he agree to a H&W LPA?

Placement in care home could well mean safeguarding issue followed by beat interests meeting.

 

[BlinkingAllTheWay]

Hi LisaV

I would suggest speaking to a solicitor and asking them to consider whether your dad has capacity to decide to enter into an LPA for health and welfare. Memory problems and and a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s doesn’t automatically mean he will lack capacity, but it sounds as though you have good reasons to question it, so asking a solicitor to take a look would be sensible.

You could also speak to your local authority adult social care department about your general concerns about your dad if you haven’t already. They will be able to take a look at your dad’s care needs and offer advice in terms of supporting him either at home or in a care home for instance. It’s helpful if he is at least on their radar if you’re concerned he might need a care home, be unwilling to go and you have worries about self neglect. You could ask the social worker about your dad’s capacity regarding the LPA but in my experience they don’t tend to want to comment or help with those kinds of things, leaving it to family.

 

[nitram]

@LisaV
The capacity test the solicitor should use is basically :

Can he?
Understand information given to him
Retain that information long enough to be able to make a decision
Weigh up the information available to make that decision
Communicate his decision

Unless you think he has a reasonable chance of passing the test with questions relevant to an LPA application think carefully if you want to ask a solicitor, there will still be a fee if he fails.

he was too tight to get the health one done too!

What's the chance he still won't agree.

 

[Rayreadynow]

Nothing to say you cant ask at different times of the day and in different ways.

 

[sue31]

Hello everyone
My Dad's Alzheimer's is getting steadily worse - his memory is terrible now, he's increasingly frail and he is beginning to show signs of next stages (can't dress himself, incontinence, etc). At the moment we have carers going in three times a day at home, but we are beginning to look at options for care homes as we are concerned he is vulnerable.

My brother and I have LPA for Dad's finances, which we activated a few years ago and now look after all his financial affairs.
However when Dad got the LPA done at the solicitors, he was too tight to get the health one done too!

This may well cause us a problem with care homes, he is very proud and is likely to refuse to go into a care home - he thinks he is fine and when visitors come he does his best to appear like he is coping, even though we see the real condition he is in when nobody else is there. Sometimes (30% of the time) he appears to be completely together (although with poor memory), but very often now he is so confused he doesn't even know where he lives.

So my question is - are we too late to get him to submit for a health and wellbeing LPA?

Thanks for any suggestions or experience on this one.....

We only had financial too, only because she had never done any finances in 60 years of marriage - dad did it all so I took over several years ago when he died.
By the time we realised how bad she had got it was too late to do independently, it
got to the stage carers were just not working any more so called in Mental health & then social services got involved too.
Actually made a bad situation worse!
They kept trying to push me to apply for the H&W one, which I did look into but it’s well over 1k at this stage via COP and can take over 6 months to obtain. There are restrictions on it too.
After reading so many posts here I refused. They were not too happy.

Mum had a fall (not hurt luckily) mid December, so she got taken into hospital & due to her lack of capacity they put a DoLs in place while she was there. On discharge she was sent to an assessment bed and we went through the DST meeting last week, and have the MDT on 1st feb. Everything is decided in her ‘best interest’ and if I’ve not agreed at or on any point I have made sure I have been heard.
Sadly this week mums condition has quickly detonated & it looks like she’s going to end up in palliative care much sooner than we thought.

If you can’t get it through a solicitor don’t stress yourself out, you & your brother will be able to have your say on any future decisions, as next of kins, you both have his “best interests” so speak up for him if & when needed.

 

[LisaV]

We only had financial too, only because she had never done any finances in 60 years of marriage - dad did it all so I took over several years ago when he died.
By the time we realised how bad she had got it was too late to do independently, it
got to the stage carers were just not working any more so called in Mental health & then social services got involved too.
Actually made a bad situation worse!
They kept trying to push me to apply for the H&W one, which I did look into but it’s well over 1k at this stage via COP and can take over 6 months to obtain. There are restrictions on it too.
After reading so many posts here I refused. They were not too happy.

Mum had a fall (not hurt luckily) mid December, so she got taken into hospital & due to her lack of capacity they put a DoLs in place while she was there. On discharge she was sent to an assessment bed and we went through the DST meeting last week, and have the MDT on 1st feb. Everything is decided in her ‘best interest’ and if I’ve not agreed at or on any point I have made sure I have been heard.
Sadly this week mums condition has quickly detonated & it looks like she’s going to end up in palliative care much sooner than we thought.

If you can’t get it through a solicitor don’t stress yourself out, you & your brother will be able to have your say on any future decisions, as next of kins, you both have his “best interests” so speak up for him if & when needed.

So sorry to hear about your mum Sue thanks for sharing your experience, it's much appreciated.

 

[LisaV]

thank you so much everyone - very helpful.