Hello, I'm new to this website so this is my first post. Apologies for it being quite so long winded, although I have quite a lot on my mind at the moment...
My father died over 3 years ago, leaving my mother alone in our family home.
My mother is 79 years old, has mild to mid stage Alzheimer’s disease and suffers confusion regarding times of the day, people’s names, places etc. and is more or less confined to the house nowadays although is very happy watching TV, listening to music and the radio and is more or less stable, as far as anybody can be with a progressive mental disease. Due to her dementia, she receives care at home 4 times a day to attend to her medication, washing, eating, etc. needs for which she partly pays herself from her pension & attendance allowance. She is physically very able bodied and uses no form of assistance (Zimmer frame, wheel chair, crutches, etc.).
I live abroad and visit only twice a year on average, although am in constant contact with the care agency as well as my mother, to whom I call almost every day. I order readymade meals through the Internet on a weekly basis, which the carers heat in the microwave every day. I also deal with any other services my mother needs such as chiropodist, hairdresser, basic repairs to the house, etc. My aunt and my parents' long time neighbour also visit regularly in order to check up on her.
Last September, my mother starting exhibiting occasional incontinence problems when I was there and so I called the local continence assessment team, although was told they have a backlog of 12 weeks and my mother would be added to the list and seen in due course. By Christmas, nobody had been to see my mother so I asked the care agency to contact the continence assessment team and try to move things along. The reply from the care agency was that the matter was in hand and the problem was that there was a huge number of people on the waiting list, although my mother's case had been marked as "urgent".
Two months passed and still no result from the continence assessment team...
Two weeks ago, I contacted the care agency and asked again about the continence assessment. To my surprise, the reply was that a social worker has now been assigned to my mother’s case and has arranged for my mother to be checked over by a doctor. The result was that my mother was apparently over 1½ stone underweight although otherwise in good physical health. It has also been noted in the daily logs (according to the social worker), which the carers fill out each day, that her not eating enough was a regular issue. In spite of this, the care agency has not once informed me of this and the situation has been allowed to deteriorate.
As a result of my mother’s weight problem, the social worker is now demanding that she be admitted into a care home, which apparently specialises in nutritional requirements, for a period of 2-4 weeks, if her weight does not significantly increase over the next 4 weeks.
I contacted the care agency last week and asked them why the situation has been allowed to get to this state. I made a list of changes they have to make in order to make sure my mother is actually eating the food I order for her. I’ve received no reply to that email for over a week.
I also contacted the continence assessment team today and was advised that nobody has been in contact with them from any care agency and my mother's case has certainly not been marked as "urgent". They also couldn't explain why nobody had been to see my mother before now to carry out the assessment.
Am I being paranoid or does this look like a conspiracy in the making?
I fear that if my mother is forced into this care home on a “temporary” basis, she will not be allowed to return home after the 4 week period and her temporary status will become permanent. After that her care funding issues will no doubt be in question by the LA.
My mother is adamant that she doesn’t want to go into any kind of care home and is intent on staying at her real home in which she has lived for over 35 years for as long as possible.
The question is, how liable is the care agency for effectively creating this situation through their apparent negligence (or intent), which could now force my mother into a care home and possible self-funding far earlier than necessary? I’ve read from various forums on the Internet that LAs nowadays find it more expensive to keep people in their own homes and are all too keen to try to push people into residential care far earlier than necessary, citing anything as an excuse to do so and social workers are usually the ones to push it through. I'm sure the care agencies also know about this and are willing to exploit it, particularly if they have more challenging cases on their books that they could do without.
How much power does the social worker have in this situation? Can I prevent this action in any way? How culpable is the care agency for effectively creating this situation, if it means that my mother has to go into care against her will? Can I demand that the care agency provide a nutritional specialist (who is apparently on offer in this care home) to visit my mother at home in order to try to reverse the situation?
I have Lasting Power of Attorney over my mother, although unfortunately only over her financial affairs.
Thanks, if you made it this far. Any advice or answers to the above questions would be most welcome as well as any other general comments.
Paul
My father died over 3 years ago, leaving my mother alone in our family home.
My mother is 79 years old, has mild to mid stage Alzheimer’s disease and suffers confusion regarding times of the day, people’s names, places etc. and is more or less confined to the house nowadays although is very happy watching TV, listening to music and the radio and is more or less stable, as far as anybody can be with a progressive mental disease. Due to her dementia, she receives care at home 4 times a day to attend to her medication, washing, eating, etc. needs for which she partly pays herself from her pension & attendance allowance. She is physically very able bodied and uses no form of assistance (Zimmer frame, wheel chair, crutches, etc.).
I live abroad and visit only twice a year on average, although am in constant contact with the care agency as well as my mother, to whom I call almost every day. I order readymade meals through the Internet on a weekly basis, which the carers heat in the microwave every day. I also deal with any other services my mother needs such as chiropodist, hairdresser, basic repairs to the house, etc. My aunt and my parents' long time neighbour also visit regularly in order to check up on her.
Last September, my mother starting exhibiting occasional incontinence problems when I was there and so I called the local continence assessment team, although was told they have a backlog of 12 weeks and my mother would be added to the list and seen in due course. By Christmas, nobody had been to see my mother so I asked the care agency to contact the continence assessment team and try to move things along. The reply from the care agency was that the matter was in hand and the problem was that there was a huge number of people on the waiting list, although my mother's case had been marked as "urgent".
Two months passed and still no result from the continence assessment team...
Two weeks ago, I contacted the care agency and asked again about the continence assessment. To my surprise, the reply was that a social worker has now been assigned to my mother’s case and has arranged for my mother to be checked over by a doctor. The result was that my mother was apparently over 1½ stone underweight although otherwise in good physical health. It has also been noted in the daily logs (according to the social worker), which the carers fill out each day, that her not eating enough was a regular issue. In spite of this, the care agency has not once informed me of this and the situation has been allowed to deteriorate.
As a result of my mother’s weight problem, the social worker is now demanding that she be admitted into a care home, which apparently specialises in nutritional requirements, for a period of 2-4 weeks, if her weight does not significantly increase over the next 4 weeks.
I contacted the care agency last week and asked them why the situation has been allowed to get to this state. I made a list of changes they have to make in order to make sure my mother is actually eating the food I order for her. I’ve received no reply to that email for over a week.
I also contacted the continence assessment team today and was advised that nobody has been in contact with them from any care agency and my mother's case has certainly not been marked as "urgent". They also couldn't explain why nobody had been to see my mother before now to carry out the assessment.
Am I being paranoid or does this look like a conspiracy in the making?
I fear that if my mother is forced into this care home on a “temporary” basis, she will not be allowed to return home after the 4 week period and her temporary status will become permanent. After that her care funding issues will no doubt be in question by the LA.
My mother is adamant that she doesn’t want to go into any kind of care home and is intent on staying at her real home in which she has lived for over 35 years for as long as possible.
The question is, how liable is the care agency for effectively creating this situation through their apparent negligence (or intent), which could now force my mother into a care home and possible self-funding far earlier than necessary? I’ve read from various forums on the Internet that LAs nowadays find it more expensive to keep people in their own homes and are all too keen to try to push people into residential care far earlier than necessary, citing anything as an excuse to do so and social workers are usually the ones to push it through. I'm sure the care agencies also know about this and are willing to exploit it, particularly if they have more challenging cases on their books that they could do without.
How much power does the social worker have in this situation? Can I prevent this action in any way? How culpable is the care agency for effectively creating this situation, if it means that my mother has to go into care against her will? Can I demand that the care agency provide a nutritional specialist (who is apparently on offer in this care home) to visit my mother at home in order to try to reverse the situation?
I have Lasting Power of Attorney over my mother, although unfortunately only over her financial affairs.
Thanks, if you made it this far. Any advice or answers to the above questions would be most welcome as well as any other general comments.
Paul