I have a vague recollection of Mum's solicitor in Scotland advising us as to the differing POAs at the time she started her faster slide in 2002-3. Mum had an unregistered POA in place from 1993 when she had sorted out her will. The solicitor advised, when I contacted him to discuss it that if Mum was fit and seemed to understand what was being said that we draft a new POA as the legislation had changed. This I think was phrased as being a "Welfare Power of Attorney" which gave my brother and I the rights to discuss her medical treatment, nursing home care and up to and including putting a DNR on her notes when it became appropriate, which some of you may remember we did at the start of this year.
I know that the situation does differ north and south of the border.
I assume Elaine that you are concerned for the resident and feel that it may be premature. If it helps the GP said to me, when I discussed it with him, that more often than not, in a patient with dementia, CPR techniques failed, that they were not the miracle cure often shown on TV programmes. I was relieved, but mostly becuase I did not want Mum's last few minutes, should they happen, to be frantic and noisy, but instead to be peaceful and quiet, as they were.
Mameeskye