Moving to a care home - practicalities

[Grable]

Mum's off for her 4-week trial at a care home tomorrow. I've labelled her clothes, etc, cancelled her milk, informed the insurance company that her house will be empty, told the doctor, chiropodist and hairdresser about the change of venue, arranged for her neighbours to pop in and twitch curtains occasionally and for my brother to do a weekly inspection of the property. Can those who have been through this before please tell me what I've forgotten? (The house insurance occurred to me at 5 o'clock this morning!)

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[Ali67]

If your mum's house has a garden might be worth getting a gardener in or someone to mow the lawn occasionally.

 

[marionq]

Turn off the electricity and gas at the mains. Make sure the fridge is empty and door left open. Leave the door of the washing machine open to stop smells building up.

 

[lemonjuice]

Mum's off for her 4-week trial at a care home tomorrow. I've labelled her clothes, etc, cancelled her milk, informed the insurance company that her house will be empty, told the doctor, chiropodist and hairdresser about the change of venue, arranged for her neighbours to pop in and twitch curtains occasionally and for my brother to do a weekly inspection of the property. Can those who have been through this before please tell me what I've forgotten? (The house insurance occurred to me at 5 o'clock this morning!)

Thanks for any advice you can give.

I think you've covered most of the things at her current residence, but what about her 'new residence'?
I know I took in some personal photographs, vases of silk flowers and one or two of her trophies to help make her 'new room' look more homely. I also took in some cushions for the chair and her Radio /CD player with some CDs.
Although my mother was well past the stage of being able to read by the time we moved her, perhaps some magazines/books, knitting or other hobby paraphenalia. Lots more name-marking too.

 

[chris53]

Hi Grable,hope all goes well for mum and her trial in what maybe her new home works out well think you seemed to have covered everything! but a few handy hints from my husband(retired police officer)...unplug the telephone especially if it is on a loud ring,could your neighbours check that there is no post sticking out of the door or inside the door, putting a light on at night plus a radio on,turn the water off,if there is a garden or plant pots give them a water,if possible get your neighbours to use mums outside dustbin or wheelie on her usual collection day, am sure others may think of more things
Take care
Chris

 

[Grable]

Lots of great advice - keep it coming! Many of these things are ones I hadn't thought of. Thank you.

 

[nitram]

"Turn off the electricity and gas at the mains."

I had a chuckle at this, some time ago I had to insure an unoccupied property and some insurers requested this but also said lights should be left to come on in the evening using time switches, some help line script monkeys could not understand my query and said nobody else had raised the problem. Does nobody read the small print?

On a serious note turning off the water is also important, it's amazing the damage a small leak can do to ceilings, chipboard kitchen units, and general decor.

 

[Pickles53]

Turn off the electricity and gas at the mains. Make sure the fridge is empty and door left open. Leave the door of the washing machine open to stop smells building up.

Check with the insurance company first re gas/electric/water if you haven't already. Mum's actually wanted the central heating etc kept on at a low temperature not turned off and someone had to check the house for water leaks etc at least once a week.