Multidisciplinary meeting with community matron

[Helly68]

My mum is in a care home, has dementia and is bipolar. She is experiencing delirium and agitation following an emergency operation.

The care home have told me they are arranging a meeting with the community matron to see if there is a change to be made to her medication or an underlying health reason for her agitation.

Has anyone had one of these meetings? I hope to be there but don't know exactly when it will be. My nightmare is that whilst the home have been brilliant, they may not be able to meet her increasing needs in future

 

[nitram]

Personally I would involve her GP, maybe some short term medication?

For background info
https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/sudden-onset-delerium.108056/

 

[Helly68]

Personally I would involve her GP, maybe some short term medication?


Thank you, that is a really good idea.

 

[Graybiker]

We had this when mam’s gp had changed her medication, she had a bad reaction to it, become aggressive, combative etc. For us it was a good move, got her on different meds, prescribed by the memory clinic again, not her gp. She is still being monitored but is much improved.
Who normally prescribes her medication, specifically for dementia? For mam, the memory clinic had always done it, when she went in the home they got gp in when they had a problem. GP was not familiar with mam’s previous history and prescribed so ething she’d had a bad reaction to before.
What I’m trying, very badly, to say, is make sure whoever normally prescribes meds is involved. In mam’s case the home are now quite happy, hope it works out well for you too
Xx

 

[Helly68]

We had this when mam’s gp had changed her medication, she had a bad reaction to it, become aggressive, combative etc. For us it was a good move, got her on different meds, prescribed by the memory clinic again, not her gp. She is still being monitored but is much improved.
Who normally prescribes her medication, specifically for dementia? For mam, the memory clinic had always done it, when she went in the home they got gp in when they had a problem. GP was not familiar with mam’s previous history and prescribed so ething she’d had a bad reaction to before.
What I’m trying, very badly, to say, is make sure whoever normally prescribes meds is involved. In mam’s case the home are now quite happy, hope it works out well for you too
Xx

This is a really good point, as just like above, the gp doesn't know her as she changed when she went into the care home. Thank you

 

[Graybiker]

This is a really good point, as just like above, the gp doesn't know her as she changed when she went into the care home. Thank you

X

No problem, happy to be of help.
It’s a whole new world when our loved ones go in a home and we have no idea what to expect or how it all works.
Hope all works out ok, let us know
Xx

 

[Helly68]

Thanks for that - I will let you all know. I think it is the right way forward, that we all discuss aspects of Mum's care, especially as she has sadly had a very sudden decline.
The care home have been great up until now, but I would say communication - from them to relatives, and trying to join up very disjointed health and care services is undoubtedly the hardest thing.
I am trying not to get my hopes up too much but hopefully this is a discussion to which we as relatives can add our views and advocate for Mummy.

 

[Helly68]

Just to update....

We had this meeting yesterday, attended by myself and my Dad, who have medical POA for my Mum and a community matron, home manager and mental health team reps.I would recommend this type of meeting for discussing changes in care or clinical needs. It is always a very difficult situation but good to get the right people round the table so that changes can be made promptly.

GP wasn't there, but actually I don't think they would have added much - depends on the individual issues really.

I think it went pretty well, considering my Mum, who was probably mid stage dementia, recently had emergency surgery and has since considerably declined.

They checked all her medications, looked at clinical test results (blood, urine etc) and discussed ways of getting her to take medication and changes in her care regime - increase in the level of care needed.

We are also being asked to get her a recliner type chair, better suited to her needs. Has anyone else had to get one of these? Were you able to claim any money back? What happens if you buy it and your relative doesn't like it or won't use it? I didn't think about this much at the meeting, but these chairs arent cheap....

 

[Beate]

Get an assessment from an OT and they can tell you what they could supply for free and whether a recliner chair is one of them. Always best to consult the experts first, and if you have to pay for one, they might know where to get it cheap.

 

[Helly68]

Get a assessment from an OT and they can tell you what they could supply for free and whether a recliner chair is one of them. Always best to consult the experts first, and if you have to pay for one, they might know where to get it cheap.

That is interesting as OT weren't there.....I will check before buying, but suspect we will have to pay anyway...