New here and trying to manage Mum's carers

[Remotecarer]

Hi all - bit of an odd one I suspect. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's just under a year ago but had obviously been suffering from it for a while. My brother and I live miles away so we visit monthly (each) and we arranged carers to go in daily to help with household bits.

The medics wanted to add memantine to help slow memory loss down and it needs to go in regularly in the morning so we recruited another carer from the list Mum's GP had given us. She's done the job admirably and her communications are excellent but she's rubbing the others up the wrong way - she accused one of them of falsifying medical records, insisting it couldn't be done by accident (my brother and I think it's easy, you're passing Mum the medication, the phone goes or someone comes to the door, you tick the box and go and see to whatever it was and WALLOP, you have a record of medication being taken when it hasn't been).

One of the other carers suggested a medical record book which we thought was a good idea; the newer carer says this won't work and we need a chart plus several other pieces of paperwork on display around Mum. Personally I don't want Mum's home looking like a business and I don't see why we shouldn't try with the record book as one of the existing carers suggested it - so the newer carer has asked for a meeting with me and my brother to discuss her concerns and (wait for it) help her decide whether to continue with Mum.

I'm new to this as I'm sure most offspring of dementia sufferers are. I don't know whether the newer person is right or wrong (I do know my brother and I are now feeling bossed around). I also know we can't afford not to have someone going in every morning, because of this memantine medication.

How does everyone else handle the internal politics if you have multiple carers (or whatever we're calling them) and they live miles away..?

Thanks
Guy

 

[Jessbow]

so does the morning carer do the care as well as the medication, or re there two carers clashing?
You are the client, ( or her representative) you decide how you want med giving recorded.
pre packed dossett box would solve the issue, wouldnt it? You can see if its been given or not.

most people also have a folder where visits are recorded. is there no record of who has done what, and the care plan?

 

[Remotecarer]

Thanks for responding, Jessbow. Mum has a dosset box; no individual carer is available for the whole week in the morning and one of the carers wanted to deliver something on Friday. She found Mum, after the carer had gone, holding her dosset box looking puzzled but in the list of medications Friday was ticked as "administered" or whatever.

The carer who found this is basically suggesting it would be impossible to do by mistake. My own view is that we should never underestimate what can happen as an error but the new carer now wants to see my brother and me over Zoom - she's also told us precisely what we need to do with the cleaning when the other carers were already discussing it (they have a WhatsApp group).

I suppose one real issue for us is that although she's a bit "my way or the highway" I have no way of knowing whether she's right or the other carers are doing OK.

 

[Jale]

When the carers used to give Mum her meds more often than not we would find them tucked down the side of the armchair, for what it's worth nobody should be marking a chart as meds given before they have been given to the PWD and made sure that they have been swallowed, nor should tablets etc be left where your Mum can get hold of them.
Not sure what the difference would be between a record book and a chart, wouldn't the book be better?
I think there is going to be a clash of personalities because no 2 people will ever work exactly the same way, but at the end of the day you and your brother have to do whatever you feel is right for your Mum.
Good luck

 

[canary]

She found Mum, after the carer had gone, holding her dosset box looking puzzled but in the list of medications Friday was ticked as "administered" or whatever.

That should never have happened.
Your mum should not have been given the dosset box. The pills should have been removed from the dosset box, given to your mum and only when she had taken them should it have been marked as "administered". It does look like the carer felt that simply handing the dosset box to your mum counted as "administered".

 

[yoy]

so we recruited another carer from the list Mum's GP had given us

I'm left wondering where these carers are from? Are they all from a care company or ad-hoc volunteers? And what training have they been given?
My mum had carers from a local company on a list approved by the local authority. It wasn't the same carer every time, but they were all trained to do certain things in the same way. When it came to meds the carer would remove them from the dosset box (which was always kept out of mum's reach/sight), hand them to mum with a glass of water and then stand and watch mum swallow them. Only then would they write in the log book "given and taken".

 

[Jessbow]

If she needs a carer to administer her medication, its shouldnt be in a place where she can access it herself at all.
No book or piece of paper will help in that senario.

if you have a group of carers that gel, let her take the highway.

 

[BluTinks]

Paper, book or folder should be away from your mum? Somewhere all carers know and marked up

 

[Remotecarer]

It gets a bit more complex after the carer who complained and who’s been sending us the lists of things to do (and who requested the online meeting - happening tomorrow - decided to resign yesterday before even speaking to us. That’s our Christmas period cover blown.

This isn’t going to get any easier.m, is it…

 

[Remotecarer]

Just a quick update - mostly with thanks for the moral support here.

Both of the other carers decided this week that they didn't want to do the morning visits with the medication any more which I found a bit staggering. Fortunately I was already talking to a local agency which is going to start working with Mum on Thursday of this week with the morning visits.

If it goes well - and the agency seems reputable - I could see them replacing the other carers over the mid-term as they move on, retire, get better jobs or whatever. There's bound to be some natural moving-on and of course an agency is going to be able to cover holidays etc. better.

Thanks again for all the support.