Help and advice please!!

Susi T

Registered User
Jan 12, 2007
64
0
Leamington Spa
Hi everybody

Haven't been on the site for a while, things have been very trying!! I have posted on the site before when i was experiencing problems with night disturbance etc.

Dad was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia in April, I have had lots of visits up until now, Social Workers, CPN etc. nothing to really help with Dad during the day when I am working. He has had to hospitalised twice over the last month, blood pressure problems, on both occassions I have been at home. He is still in hospital at the moment waiting to be assessed as I have expressed concern that his dementia has got worse, on monday last he took a "swing" at me with a holdall because i wouldn't take him home!! Very unlike Dad, although he can be very nasty tone wise!! I am very concerned what will happen to him while I am out at work.

I had noticed after the last hospital episode that he had gone "down", although Social Services are looking at someone to come in and keep Dad company etc. I am not convinced this will be a solution.

Having spoken to doctors and nurses I told them of my concerns as to Dad's decline.

We were in the process of getting POA in place, alas Dad didn't want to go to his last appointment, needless to say the consultant would not make a decision without seeing him!!

Can anyone offer any advice or fill me in on what the hospital may offer help wise?
 

hazelflower

Registered User
Aug 22, 2007
10
0
carmarthen
hi there im not familiar with your situation..does dad live alone or with you? has he had any care before.. before we took mum on with us .we had a sitaution with the hospital..and they were going to ship her out back to her flat on her own with no support until i insisted that they didnt...and asked for the hospital social worker to assess her and her needs and they eventually put her in a transistional bed at a local home...you are entilted to 6 weeks for free...it gave us time to make long term arragements..dont know if this would help you or not? its not ideal but buys time when you know that your loved one is at least safe!
 

jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
39,442
0
Well they might. That would be Warwickshire PCT correct? Because I found them hopeless with regard to obtaining care for my mother. Partly it was because we were self-funding and partly because she was already living in an extra care facility with "on tap" carers, but to be honest, being asked by an OT "she doesn't need nursing care does she?" doesn't strike me as an effective way to conduct an evaluation. There may have been more done, but I never saw it, and what I did see (records, reason for admission etc) was consistently wrong.

Sorry to be such a downer. The one person who I felt might have helped was the nurse coordinator from the pychiatric care service, but I didn't get to speak to her until after my mother was released (yes I know it should be discharged but it didn't feel like that). Although the ward has supposedly referred my mother to this service 2 weeks previously, as far as I could find out, the referral didn't go through unitl the day my mother came home, so when the nurse went to speak to her my mother wasn't there. Please note she hadn't been referred for her dementia symptoms but because the ward staff thought she "might be depressed". Why did they think she was taking anti-depressants?

My point is: you will have to be very assertive to get anything out of them. The procedures supposedly exist, they just don't seem to follow them. However, I found the PALS depeartment quite helpful, so you might want to start there.

Good luck
 

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