No diagnosis or referral

Charlotte_Byrne

New member
Aug 2, 2022
2
0
Hi all,

I'm really not sure what to do. My grandmother has been displaying signs of dementia for over 2 years now. Recently things have gotten worse. She's been having conversations with her mother who died 20 years ago. She came home last week and was terrified about where her children had gone (they're in their 50s and live in their own homes). Most devastatingly, on Sunday night she didn't recognise my grandad, her husband of nearly 60 years. She accused him of being a stranger in her hojse trying to murder her, and smashed things up in the house in her panic.

We thought she was waiting on a referral to a memory clinic, but I called them today and they told me the referral had been rejected a year ago (!)

I called the GP surgery today about this? but they won't talk to me or anyone other than my grandma because she hasn't given her consent. It will be impossible to get her to sign anything relating to this as she's very paranoid and experiencing delusions.

How should I proceed? What can we do? We got in touch with social services and asked for a care needs assessment, but my grandma told them she didn't need any care.

Thank you for your help.
 

Izzy

Volunteer Moderator
Aug 31, 2003
73,996
0
72
Dundee
Welcome to the forum.

I’m so sorry to read about your mum’s situation. Do you have Power of Attorney for her?

I think I wound write a letter to your mum’s GP documenting all of your concerns. If they won’t speak to you at least your concerns will be noted.

You might find it helpful to talk with someone on the Dementia Connect Support line -

 

Charlotte_Byrne

New member
Aug 2, 2022
2
0
Thank you for getting back to me. We don't have power of attorney unfortunately, as she was convinced we were going to try and have her sectioned at one point. We could look into writing a letter to the GP, thank you for this suggestion.
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,748
0
Essex
Thank you for getting back to me. We don't have power of attorney unfortunately, as she was convinced we were going to try and have her sectioned at one point. We could look into writing a letter to the GP, thank you for this suggestion.
Dear @Charlotte_Byrne,

I feel angry on your behalf. I write to dad's GP but I never heard anything. I remember phoning them up and they said that I needed to get him down to the surgery but that was very difficult because he wouldn't go although he did agree to his diabetic appointment with the nurse and she was asked to look out for any signs of dementia. However none of us including the doctor were entirely satisfied with this. Of course he put on his best host mode and just about got through! However at home he was relaxed and all his symptoms showed. In the end we got him to see the doctor under the pretext of a hearing appointment. What I'm trying to say is that you should do what I did and make appointment for yourself to discuss your concerns about your grandmother and also your grandad. Do you have any other family members who could go with you?

Good luck

MaNaAk