Is this normal in a care home

limafoxtrot

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Aug 7, 2011
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My Mum has now been in a care home with a dementia wing since last October (although when I do get back to the UK & see her, Mum says she's just arrived that day).

Is it normal to keep people being able to walk around a care home? To get to the dementia wing on the ground floor where Mum is, you have to key in a no. to get in & out of the wing they have a large lounge on one side & on the other side is where they eat, with a small seating area to relax in. The problem is Mum hates not been able to just go to her room when she wants or go to another lounge on the other wing down the corridor. Staff do take her down to the other lounge & she seems to enjoy it. All bedrooms are on the next floor & to get to the dementia wing rooms, again you have to key in a no. to get through to them & same again to get out.

When I've been to see Mum she is always on the corridor wanting to have a walk around but she can't. I totally understand & agree the home wanting to keep the residents safe but you are unable to get inside or out of the main door without a member of staff letting you in or out. My daughter goes to see her Nan now & again & says Mum is in the corridor when she goes too. :(
Lima
 

Tin

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May 18, 2014
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UK
My Mum has now been in a care home with a dementia wing since last October (although when I do get back to the UK & see her, Mum says she's just arrived that day).

Is it normal to keep people being able to walk around a care home? To get to the dementia wing on the ground floor where Mum is, you have to key in a no. to get in & out of the wing they have a large lounge on one side & on the other side is where they eat, with a small seating area to relax in. The problem is Mum hates not been able to just go to her room when she wants or go to another lounge on the other wing down the corridor. Staff do take her down to the other lounge & she seems to enjoy it. All bedrooms are on the next floor & to get to the dementia wing rooms, again you have to key in a no. to get through to them & same again to get out.

When I've been to see Mum she is always on the corridor wanting to have a walk around but she can't. I totally understand & agree the home wanting to keep the residents safe but you are unable to get inside or out of the main door without a member of staff letting you in or out. My daughter goes to see her Nan now & again & says Mum is in the corridor when she goes too. :(
Lima

safety is paramount. I care for my mum at home, and a few weeks ago after a bad night trying to calm her down, by 6am I just gave up, closed my eyes for minutes, suddenly the house was quiet and I couldn't find mum anywhere. I always lock outside doors and remove keys. but I have one never used side door, it was locked but key left in place plus I had 'dumped' some small pieces of furniture in front of it. my shock when I found the door wide open and a path clear to get out! terrified I jumped in the car and drove around our little village, found her after a few minutes with packed bags and her little dog, for a little old lady who can't walk very well, I was shocked how far she had got. she was so angry with me and I was so upset and ashamed. i'm now probably over the top about locking up and have various neighbours on alert now the weather has improved the care home probably has some activities outside. maybe your mum waits in the corridor because she is expecting a visit from a family member, that's what my grandmother used to do.
 

Jessbow

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Mar 1, 2013
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I'd say it was pretty normal. Whilst it might be okay for her to roam, others might not be as able and it would cause problems.
In many secure dementia units, families are not even given the key code, for security. We have to be let in and out
 
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limafoxtrot

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Aug 7, 2011
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safety is paramount. I care for my mum at home, and a few weeks ago after a bad night trying to calm her down, by 6am I just gave up, closed my eyes for minutes, suddenly the house was quiet and I couldn't find mum anywhere. I always lock outside doors and remove keys. but I have one never used side door, it was locked but key left in place plus I had 'dumped' some small pieces of furniture in front of it. my shock when I found the door wide open and a path clear to get out! terrified I jumped in the car and drove around our little village, found her after a few minutes with packed bags and her little dog, for a little old lady who can't walk very well, I was shocked how far she had got. she was so angry with me and I was so upset and ashamed. i'm now probably over the top about locking up and have various neighbours on alert now the weather has improved the care home probably has some activities outside. maybe your mum waits in the corridor because she is expecting a visit from a family member, that's what my grandmother used to do.

In totally agree saftey is paramount & fortunately that's why the main door to the outside has a code that only the staff know, so residents cannot get out. I just thought it would be nice if Mum could go up to her room when she wanted. Unfortunately when she when she does go to her room, she has to stay there until a meme re of staff takes her back down to the lounge.
It seems Mum is waiting in the corridor to go home, as she believes she has gone to help them at the home for the day & is wanting to go home but can't remember where her home is. She seems to think she only lives over the road, which is not the case.

Glad your Mum though was ok after her walk & I don't think you're are being over the top.

Lima
 

BLONDY

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Oct 29, 2011
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2000 MILES AWAY
Better to find your mum in a corridor than go looking for her on the street. Is this the only thing that is worrying you maybe time to look for somewhere else with adequate staffing to assist your mum
Kind Regards
Blondy

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limafoxtrot

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Aug 7, 2011
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Uk Expat
Better to find your mum in a corridor than go looking for her on the street. Is this the only thing that is worrying you maybe time to look for somewhere else with adequate staffing to assist your mum
Kind Regards
Blondy

Sent from my LC0901D using Talking Point mobile app

Thank you, I totally agree but it's not the door to the outside that's the worry as I know she can't get to the outside as a member of staff has to put in a code & they don't let residents out anyway. It's the inner door that's also has a code, as does the doors to her bedroom. I just think she should be able to go to her room when she wants but she can't.
Unfortunately because Mum is not self funding, I have been waiting since January for Access to go & review her again so she can move to the care home we originally wanted her to go to (at the time they didn't have a room), since then I've had to turn down 3 rooms Mum can't be moved until after they been.

Lima
 

rajahh

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Aug 29, 2008
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Hertfordshire
At the home my husband was in residents could walk about and go to their rooms, but this also meant other residents could go to other people's rooms too. My husband constantly went to a female resident's room to use her toilet and a man used to keep coming into my husband's room, . This is how belongings go missing, as residents move things about and hide things even those things which do not belong to them.

It is hard to find the balance, but over all I would have preferred what is going on in your mother's home to what went on in the one my husband was in.

Jeannette
 

Witzend

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Aug 29, 2007
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My mother is in a specialist dementia home (no non-dementia residents.) It is divided into 4 sections of 9 residents each (bedrooms and an open plan kitchen/sitting/dining room) but they are all seamlessly connected and residents are free to wander about as they wish. I often used to find my mother sitting in another 'wing'. There is an enclosed garden where they are also free to go, but you have to be buzzed in and out of the front door.

This CH was purpose built for dementia and was IMO very well designed, with plenty of room for wandering/pacing. Personally I don't think it ideal that residents are not able to go to their own rooms or to the living room areas when they wish. It is supposed to be their home, and it's not usual to be shut off from parts of your own home. Maybe the layout of the building/number of residents makes this necessary but evidently it's difficult for your mum to get used to.

Sorry, wish I could think of something more helpful to say. I think this sort of problem arises more in CHs with dementia and non-dementia wings if they are not completely separate and self contained, since obviously those with dementia can't be allowed to wander in and out of non-dementia bedrooms, and maybe the living room areas as well, if they are likely to bother the ND residents.
 
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garnuft

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Sep 7, 2012
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When my Mam had her only experience (and I suppose mine too) of life in a nursing home , for a week in January, there was a separate, key-coded door to a wing for residents that were under 1:1 care.

I wrote on my post at the time, of a gentle, little old lady who was asking me about when the buses were due...she was in the less secure side of the home that my Mam was in.

When I went back in April to pay for the weeks' respite (home wouldn't send a bill no matter how much I asked, so I just went in and paid it)...

Anyway...this poor woman, who had been peace's own self in January, was being held back behind the door as a staff member entered. She was spitting, screaming, cursing, scratching, kicking...I felt so sad for her but SO glad that there were doors to separate the units.

I would have a big problem if my Mam had been unable to get to her room though, whichever wing of the unit she was on.

The secure side was a self-contained unit and all residents could access their rooms (and as others have said...each others...small fry in the grand scheme though)

I would take it up with the carehome and ask for clarification in writing as to why your mum is unable to access her room...
to my mind it is a fundamental right for people to have solitude and a place of their own...

Someone mentioned staffing levels...I think that is probably at the bottom of this and so I would take issue with this and require clarification from both the home and social services that they agree that this is acceptable and then I would find information to support my gut feeling that it is not acceptable practice and therefore they will have to change.

Best wishes x
 

cragmaid

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Oct 18, 2010
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North East England
This may have been mentioned by others, but, the saving grace of your Mum not being able to access her room ( and it is only a small one) is that none of the other residents can access it either, in order to help themselves to Mum's things. I presume that the CH has a policy of having all it's residents up and about through the day...I just hope they have enough activities to keep them occupied and not just let the residents wander the hallway. If you are unhappy, it might be worth having another look at different CHs on your next trip home.
 

Ash148

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Jan 1, 2014
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Dublin, Ireland
Hi limafoxtrot, my mum moved into her new nursing home yesterday, after a crazy six months, too long a story for here. It's a general nursing home, with a dementia wing, so 48 patients in total, three wings one of which is for dementia patients. The dementia ward can only be accessed through a key-coded door, but once through, then the bedrooms, sitting rooms, dining room are all laid out around a circular corridor, with access to two internal gardens. Some of the dementia patients also spend time in the general sitting rooms and dining rooms in the main part of the nursing home but most are in the dementia wing all the time. This seems ideal to me and like others, I would be very sad if mum couldn't go to her room when she wanted to, although of course there is the downside that patients go in and out of one another's rooms and "rearrange" things. Actually, within two hours of her arrival, mum did just that: "kindly" took an item from the bedside table in one room and moved it to the bedside table in the next door room: luckily I was shadowing her and could move it back. Mum has just moved from a mental health ward in her local hospital and one of the things - amongst many - that upset me about her stay there was that the residents' bedrooms were kept locked during the day so that they wouldn't disarrange things. In my view, everyone (dementia or not) needs their own space to retreat to. I vividly remember being at boarding school as a teenager and having nowhere to go that was my own.
 

limafoxtrot

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Aug 7, 2011
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Uk Expat
Thank you all for your wonderful support on here.

I did ask a few months ago, why the residents in the dementia wing weren't allowed up to their rooms & I was told it was to encourage them to socialise & didn't want them to stay in their rooms all day, which at time I thought was reasonable.
They did at my request, move Mum to the lounge in the other wing (residents of this wing are free to wonder around the home & can go upstairs to their rooms) but that meant moving her to another room. Apparently they said Mum kept asking to go home & said they thought Mum was taking about her other room. So they moved her back after a couple of days later, this meant Mum had to go back to the wing where she can't get out off

It's such a shame really that residents on the dementia wing are not allowed in the rooms as they are a good size, we even took a 2 sweater sofa for Mum to sit so she could watch her TV in comfort instead of sitting on the bed.

Thank you all again.
Lima
 

meme

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Aug 29, 2011
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London
it sounds cruel to me...why not check other homes for her where she has more of the limited freedom she rightly deserves....
 

limafoxtrot

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Aug 7, 2011
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it sounds cruel to me...why not check other homes for her where she has more of the limited freedom she rightly deserves....

The original care home we wanted her to go to had no vacancies at the time & was put on the waiting list. Since then Mum has been offered 3 rooms there that we have had to turn down because Access said she needs to be re-accessed (Mum is not self funding) Not the fault of Access but still waiting for someone else to pick it up & assign Mum a SW again but as Mum is already in an home they said it's not urgent. I now phone them everyday, so hopefully someone will get the message.

Lima
 

Beate

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May 21, 2014
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London
This makes my blood boil. I am all for security and making sure people can't wander ouf of the home but to not let them into the room they are so dearly paying for? Who are they to determine how sociable she should be? If she wants to sit in her room all day she should be allowed to. That is no better than locking her away in prison. Shame on them. And then they wonder why people become sad or aggressive.
It's common knowledge that things in a care home can go astray, that's why you are supposed to label them. That's no reason to lock rooms. Also, I bet they just all want them together in one room to make it easier for the care staff to control them. It has nothing to do with being sociable.
 
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Rathbone

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May 17, 2014
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West Sussex
Oh I am so sorry for the way this thread has gone limafoxtrot because it's hard enough to bear as it is without feeling your dear one is imprisoned too! I fear that the reality is a combination of all of the things people have mentioned, but what I am pretty sure of is that the people who run and work in the home will want the very best for the people they care for. Nothing can be tailored exactly to each individual of course and when you have so diverse stages for each resident it becomes well nigh impossible to satisfy everybody. Having said that, take the advice here and discuss again with the staff exactly what their reasoning is. If you liked it better on the other side, then push hard to get her back there. Please try not to feel that you have to react to everything she says with an answer. Believe me I understand how heartbreaking it is. My experience is that whatever you do "for the best" may not transpire to be that because the dear person doesn't know what she wants. This dreadful disease has put paid to that. Keeping her safe has to be top of the list and I wonder if she were to be able to go freely to her room if she would be, given that nobody can see how she is from moment to moment. At least if she around and about the day areas, she will be visible. So sorry for you all - and so very hard to deal with. Loving thoughts. X Shelagh :)
 
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starryuk

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Nov 8, 2012
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My mum used to refer to her room as 'my house' in her CH. Is it possible that your mum means her room when she wants to go home?

The staff would have liked to put Mum in the dementia wing (lock up) of mum's CH but I wouldn't let them. Precisely because of the room access issue and mum's personality. We accepted the escape/fall risks in favour of giving mum the freedom to roam and take a nap when she wanted. Her dementia was quite advanced but I know that is what she would have wanted, even though it was more worrying for me and the staff.

It boils down to the safety versus freedom issue for your mum I suppose. I would keep talking about your mum's best interests/rights to the powers that be.
 
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