Mum calling the police

[ScaredyCat]

Some of you will know about my mum's obsession about believing people are breaking into her house and stealing her 30 dogs. and that I don't live near her.
Today she phoned the police, who called me whilst they were at the house. They were lovely to mum and will submit a report to her gp and social services.
Anyway, there's a family friend with her now, who spends a few evenings a week with her but phoned me saying he could not placate her while she was demanding he, then my neighbour take her to where she knows the dogs are. She's threatening to call the police again.
My question is, if mum can keeps calling the police and , according to SS, she can look after her basic needs, what is the general course of action that the police, or whoever would take about this?

 

[canary]

If SS keep getting reports from the police it will make them rethink their whole "she can look after herself" attitude.

 

[ScaredyCat]

Thanks Canary. I'm obviously upset that things are going down hill but this was sort of what I was hoping.

 

[Sarasa]

My mother called the police quite often when she was at home. In her case it was the neighbours 'stealing' things that caused the calls. The police were brilliant, and even mum could see the funny side when she phoned them to say the neighbours had stolen her false teeth. The policeman that time was sympathetic but didn't promise to do anything. They even sent round a community officer to try and persuade mum to ignore the neighbours, but of course nothing worked. It only stopped when mum went into care and her dementia progressed. SS should be informed every time, but they may phone your mum up and take her at her word if she says she is fine, which isn't of much help.
I'd keep badgering SS that your mum isn't coping however much they are hoping that she is.

 

[Zoe73]

Hi, we had a very similar situation. Eventually I got a call from my mum's community police officer to talk it through - he talked me through the various visits etc they'd done, and said that they'd concluded that no crimes were taking place (apart from the amount the locksmith kept charging to replace her locks!) and that they wouldn't be able to keep coming out. He gently suggested she had memory issues and we would want to consider residential care. He said that he'd pass on the info to social services and her GP - but this didn't seem to come to anything (he might well have put in the report, but I didn't hear if SS or the GP had taken any action). But a similar course of action in your case may help get her some support?

My mum has recently moved in with us, which is a different part of the country. She is still anxious about her flat being broken into, along with a strong pull to return there (even though she often did not feel safe there, it was her own space and she'd lived there for a long time) and this is causing quite alot of distress. I am following the advice here about how to respond: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/symptoms-and-diagnosis/delusions but I am not hopeful that it will get better. She has previously been prescribed a whole range of different quite hardcore medication by her GP but I have not yet got on top of what she should be taking when, and if it will help (I am in process of registering her with a new local GP). If anyone has tips on what works, I'd be really grateful. Sorry to hijack!

 

[Sarasa]

Hi @Zoe73 and a warm welcome to Dementia Talking Point. I'm glad the police took your mother's problems seriously. I found the police, paramedics and fire brigade were all very good when mum called them out over various things. However they couldn't put the sort of things in place that my mum needed and she eventually moved to care home.
I think you are very brave having your mum move in with you, not something I would have ever contemplated. You might find this fact sheet useful for finding support in your area useful.

Find support near you

Use our dementia directory to find local support services for people with dementia and their carers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

www.alzheimers.org.uk

When you feel ready you might want to start your own thread. I found doing that really useful as a sort of diary of how things are progressing with my mum. It also means you are likely to get more replies. Just use the blue Post Thread box at the top of the page to start a new thread.