Hi
My relative has Alzheimers and my husband holds both LPAs. It has been a long and traumatic journey to reach a point where we had finally found a really good care home after my relative had continued to make unwise decisions about their health and kept putting herself at risk in her home. After being admitted to hospital, she was discharged with a package of care to her home but continued to not cope (would phone us 5 mins after the carers had left in tears saying that no one had come), would screw up spoiled clothes and hide them round the house, would wear a plastic glove on one hand all day and night, would leave saucepans on the hob and burn them, would leave her doors unlocked, would not eat properly etc.
In the end the carers advised that a respite placement would be appropriate as the increased care package was not working so we tried this in one care home but we felt the care was not good enough and she continued to deteriorate.
We spent ages trying to find a specialist dementia home and then found an excellent care home that we feel meets her needs with a great mixture of social interaction and activities. She finally put on some weight, looked healthy and started responding to her medication. 9 months later a DoLS was undertaken when unfortunately we were on holiday so we did not have any input. On our return we were informed that an independent advocate had been appointed and that my relative was appealing the DoLS and wanted to leave the home. A month later we were called by a social worker saying that she had taken on the case and that we should find an extra care housing flat before the appeal reaches court and put care in. We were shocked as the care home believe she would be at risk in that setting, we believe she would not be safe and does not have capacity to make rational decisions and the BIA who did the DoLS thinks the care home setting is the right one. She has now been in a care home setting for a year now.
Can anyone give any advice on what we should do or how we should proceed? How long does it take for an appeal to get to court? What are our legal rights in this case and can the court force us into putting our relative into this setting even though we believe it would be traumatic and catastrophic for her? We love her very much and are trying to keep her safe - she also suffers from very high anxiety and OCD. All the rest of our family feel that it is in her best interests to be in a specialist care home.
My relative has Alzheimers and my husband holds both LPAs. It has been a long and traumatic journey to reach a point where we had finally found a really good care home after my relative had continued to make unwise decisions about their health and kept putting herself at risk in her home. After being admitted to hospital, she was discharged with a package of care to her home but continued to not cope (would phone us 5 mins after the carers had left in tears saying that no one had come), would screw up spoiled clothes and hide them round the house, would wear a plastic glove on one hand all day and night, would leave saucepans on the hob and burn them, would leave her doors unlocked, would not eat properly etc.
In the end the carers advised that a respite placement would be appropriate as the increased care package was not working so we tried this in one care home but we felt the care was not good enough and she continued to deteriorate.
We spent ages trying to find a specialist dementia home and then found an excellent care home that we feel meets her needs with a great mixture of social interaction and activities. She finally put on some weight, looked healthy and started responding to her medication. 9 months later a DoLS was undertaken when unfortunately we were on holiday so we did not have any input. On our return we were informed that an independent advocate had been appointed and that my relative was appealing the DoLS and wanted to leave the home. A month later we were called by a social worker saying that she had taken on the case and that we should find an extra care housing flat before the appeal reaches court and put care in. We were shocked as the care home believe she would be at risk in that setting, we believe she would not be safe and does not have capacity to make rational decisions and the BIA who did the DoLS thinks the care home setting is the right one. She has now been in a care home setting for a year now.
Can anyone give any advice on what we should do or how we should proceed? How long does it take for an appeal to get to court? What are our legal rights in this case and can the court force us into putting our relative into this setting even though we believe it would be traumatic and catastrophic for her? We love her very much and are trying to keep her safe - she also suffers from very high anxiety and OCD. All the rest of our family feel that it is in her best interests to be in a specialist care home.
