Is a rant allowed here? My mother has developed dementia very fast. She ended up in hospital, possibly after muddling medication, but is now physically much better (though she still says she feels awful). We've been reassured on lots of occasions that she wouldn't be discharged until all the support she needed had been put in place. Yesterday, out of the blue she had a visit from a social worker. As far as my mother was concerned she was told that she was ready to be discharged, that they would be able to organise carers to visit two or three times a day, but that that was all they could offer. My mother thought it was going to happen straight away, has lost all confidence and doesn't feel able to be alone at any time and was really upset. The same lady came back when I was visiting. Repeated pretty much the same, refused to give any guidance on timescale, and, when we said that my mum really didn't feel able to be alone at the moment, threw a few telephone numbers at me to try to find care homes. Mentioned a couple of carehomes in my town (both of which, I knew didn't cater for dementia), and said we'd probably have to look out of the area if they didn't have vacancies. Luckily, I had already done a bit of research, knew of another home in the area which has a good reputation and vacancies (though I'm not sure how long it would take to organise) but my mother was extremely upset. The conversation was conducted between the social worker and myself, referring to my mother as "mum", I'm afraid that eventually my mum told her that she was not her mother, and that she had a name and a title!
Result, however, is that she didn't sleep much last night and today was tired, unwell, and more confused and miserable than I have ever seen her, convinced she was being kicked out of school! I still haven't managed to find out exactly how urgently we need to organise that care home place.
Result, however, is that she didn't sleep much last night and today was tired, unwell, and more confused and miserable than I have ever seen her, convinced she was being kicked out of school! I still haven't managed to find out exactly how urgently we need to organise that care home place.