First post here and so very sorry to read of other peoples experiences.
My father (85) has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. He has good days and bad days. More often than not he thinks there is a duplicate house to his or that his family are staff members and his home is a hotel!
My father does not go to his bedroom of a night, more like he goes into a train compartment and travels somewhere in the night. When he wakes with a start he imagines the train has crashed and he gets out of bed and starts wandering around the house in the middle of the night. Then in the morning he is convinced he is on a boat and his luggage is not on board.
Dad is agitated and will not leave my mother alone, he follows her everywhere! He spends his day talking gibberish and is currently taking Seroquel medication. Unfortunately my mother cannot cope any more and we will be moving Dad to a care home in the next few weeks.
My problem is that as we are 'self funding' we have received no help or advice whatsoever from our doctor or Mental Health Unit. They simply say as you are self funding you must find a care home yourself. All the doctor did was issue us with a DS1500 form to apply quickly for attendance allowance.
My question is surely Dad should be admitted to a NHS hospital and be assessed, given the correct medication and THEN put into a care, instead of going straight in. Other people I have spoken to say his doctor should admit him into a geriatric unit and have him assessed. I have read that other sufferers (on this forum) are on an 'assessment ward.' What is this?
We don't mind paying for care, but we want to know if our doctor has gone trough all the available channels open to him.
Any advice please.
My father (85) has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. He has good days and bad days. More often than not he thinks there is a duplicate house to his or that his family are staff members and his home is a hotel!
My father does not go to his bedroom of a night, more like he goes into a train compartment and travels somewhere in the night. When he wakes with a start he imagines the train has crashed and he gets out of bed and starts wandering around the house in the middle of the night. Then in the morning he is convinced he is on a boat and his luggage is not on board.
Dad is agitated and will not leave my mother alone, he follows her everywhere! He spends his day talking gibberish and is currently taking Seroquel medication. Unfortunately my mother cannot cope any more and we will be moving Dad to a care home in the next few weeks.
My problem is that as we are 'self funding' we have received no help or advice whatsoever from our doctor or Mental Health Unit. They simply say as you are self funding you must find a care home yourself. All the doctor did was issue us with a DS1500 form to apply quickly for attendance allowance.
My question is surely Dad should be admitted to a NHS hospital and be assessed, given the correct medication and THEN put into a care, instead of going straight in. Other people I have spoken to say his doctor should admit him into a geriatric unit and have him assessed. I have read that other sufferers (on this forum) are on an 'assessment ward.' What is this?
We don't mind paying for care, but we want to know if our doctor has gone trough all the available channels open to him.
Any advice please.
