What help do you think might be available for this?

[Feezee]

Hello All
I found this board and month ago and have found it a lifesaver and marvel at all the support available.
I posted about my dad's situation a while ago - very forgetful, losing skills weekly, very paranoid, conspiracy theories abound, refuses to engage with consultants and just received a letter from the DVLA about his driving. (He's now just got the letter to say he's been banned and wants to appeal as the police who weren't real police are in cohoots with the neighbours).

I thought you may know if I can get round this problem and get some type of support for this predicament....

He has psychiatric nurse, he never goes to the doctor and won't go to see the consultant (I got him there for the initial visit only because he didn't remember where we were going). The nurse visits once a week if we're lucky. Otherwise I visit once a week and bring him to mine for dinner on a Sunday. He has no friends to help him.

He has been given tablets to get his paranoia under control as it was starting to cause problems for himself and for where he lives (on a park home) and potentially he could easily be asked to leave due to recent events. The trouble is he forgets to take them and they need to be taken in the evening. He is deaf and doesn't hear his phone unless it's right under his nose (won't wear or forgotten how to wear) hearing aids . He has a mobile phone, can't afford a landline and has now lost the ability to answer his phone this week. I was phoning him every evening to check he was ok and to prompt him and it worked for a week or two. I know he's lost the ability to answer his phone as I've seen it and on average it was taking me 20 - 30 attempts before catching him.

Unfortunately where I live and having my own family commitments means I can't go there and prompt him every evening. And if he does ring I can't always take the call and as you know reminding someone with short term memory problems at 3pm to take their tablets at 8pm is useless. Intermediary care team have said (via the nurse) they won't go in with any support (non-psychiactric trained) until his mental state is more stable. His mental state won't get stable unless he gets some daily prompt to take his tablets ! Argh!

Any suggestions would be great. I am investigating how much a landline would cost but I am not sure that would work as he hasn't had one for at least 3 years and may have forgotten how to use that too!
He's had no formal diagnosis, no care plan, just the nurse (who's lovely) visiting every now and again.

The last thing I want is for a crisis to happen so really want to find a solution.

Thanks for listening.
Feezee

 

[Helen33]

Hello Feezee

Well done for getting the driving licence sorted. I don't think the appeal will get very far but you can cross that bridge when you get to it.

He has psychiatric nurse,

This seems to be the key information Feezee. The psychiatric nurse is responsible for feeding back information to the consultant and I think this support needs to be strengthened. Is there any way that you can arrange a meeting with the CPN in order to discuss how these problems with regards to your father's medication can be addressed? Does the CPN realise that he/she is the only person that your father will have contact with? This is vitally important and needs to be built upon.

Wishing you well.

Love

 

[Feezee]

Hi Helen
Thanks for remembering! It was traumatic to say the least.

Excuse my ignorance but does CPN mean psychatric nurse or someone else?

Feezee

 

[Helen33]

I bet there will be a few that remember Feezee CPN does mean Community Psychiatric Nurse.

It does seem to be really hard work trying to get the right kind of help and support and it seems that this CPN involved in your dad's case is a good place to start.

Love

 

[ChristineR62]

Hi Feezee

Yes, CPN is Community Psychiatric Nurse. The one looking after my mother is an absolute gem - he has organised for someone to come and see her every day while I'm at work, to make sure that she has something to eat.

He is also my main point of contact, and has put me in touch with a social worker, who I will be seeing for the first time next week. He has also asked me if I'm all right, as he said it's their job to look after everyone.

I hope you manage to get the help you need - it does make all the difference.

Very best wishes
Christine

 

[Linda Mc]

I am wondering if the Pivotell medicine dispenser might help it has an alarm and a flashing light and you set it to go at whatever time you need.

Worked well for me to help maintain my husbands independence.

 

[Feezee]

Linda, Helen and Christine,
Thanks so much for your comments - very reassuring as it can feel like you are battling up hill alone sometimes. And scary as I know that this is only the beginning.

I'm definitely going to speak to the CPN and emphasise that he has a lack of a support generally and that they need to come up with something. The first and only suggestion SS had had was to ring him every evening. I almost cried with frustration when they suggested that.
The nurse dropped off a tablet dispenser but I don't know which type yet. I'll see it today.

Just hoping I can sort something quickly. He's gone from "down" to furious about losing his licence, thinks the neighbour involved is now getting in to his house and stealing things, and that I have conspired to help in him losing his licence. Plus I think he's just been told that his nurse is being replaced by a new one. Couple that with not having taken his tablets for a week now - it all spells potential disaster to me (but I hope I'm just worrying too much).

Fingers crossed.
Feezee

 

[Val_B]

Here's a link to the Pivotell dispenser ...

I ordered one for my mum but she was hospitalised and moved to a nursing home before we got a chance to try it. It looked very useful.

 

[Helen33]

Dear Feezee

I don't think you are worrying too much. I think you have good reason to worry because it sounds like your father is not getting the support that he needs in order to manage being at home I am just wondering whether it's because nothing is written down in black and white and therefore the consultant is not fully aware of the potential possibility that this will all lead to your father being sectioned. It seems such a shame to me that this should happen if it is at all possible to avoid it.

What do you think about writing down some of the things that you have written on your thread and addressing it to the consultant with copies to the Community Psychiatric Nurse and your father's GP and the Social Worker? This might just be the thing that gets your father's situation seriously looked at and perhaps a strategy meeting as to how these problems are to be addressed so that your father is not necessarily prematurely sectioned. The right medication seems vital and therefore a strategy as to how to get your father to take the medication seems rather urgent. It may not be possible to find a solution other than sectioning but at least you will have tried to get all the stops pulled out.

Love and best wishes

 

[Sandy]

Hi Feezee,

Intermediary care team have said (via the nurse) they won't go in with any support (non-psychiactric trained) until his mental state is more stable. His mental state won't get stable unless he gets some daily prompt to take his tablets ! Argh!

If the goal is to reduce your father's paranoia to a level where the intermediary care team can take over, then the mental health team managing your father's case will just have to provide someone to supervise his medication every day until he is stable.

I'm sure that they must provide this level of supervision for other vulnerable people in the community with psychiatric needs. Perhaps it is just a matter of saying loudly and clearly to his CPN that this is the only reliable way to get your dad's symptoms under control.

Unfortunately, when there are family members who are trying to make a system work through telephone calls and so on, the formal system seems to take a step back. They need to know that, despite your best efforts, the current system is not working.

Take care,

 

[frederickgt]

I wish I could help you,if you were in my locality.

I live in hornchurch Essex,if your father was nearby I could visit and help,I am sure there are other members on TP who could pay your father a visit if they only knew where to go.I have had experience dealing with my wife Anna,who was a dementia sufferer.

 

[Feezee]

Helen Val and Sandy
Thank you thank you thank you for your practical suggestions and comments. Yes - I am going to write to the consultant and copy the CPN in (and his GP although he doesn't know him from Adam). I have no idea who the SS person was so I'll have to miss them out. You're right - I am worried that unless something happens quickly it will lead to sectioning and that would not be the best way of approaching things with my father as in other areas he's quite fit, together and active.

Very depressing visit today at my father's who now thinks the thief has been sleeping in his living room for a couple of days in order to steal his tools. And no pill dispenser.

Frederick what a lovely offer. I am overwhelmed by your thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit (although I'm in Gloucestershire!) and almost cried when reading it. Lost for words really.
Feezee

 

[Helen33]

I have no idea who the SS person was so I'll have to miss them out

This is just a suggestion but you could copy the Head of the Dept. of Social Services in your area because then there will be no excuse for passing you backwards and forwards. If the letter omits a copy to Social Services, there is just a tad of a possibility that they might try delaying tactics which they won't do if you have informed Social Services yourself. I don't think it will really matter that it might not reach the right person but that the letter shows a copy has been sent.

I do hope you feel a little more supported Feezee. This is not an easy situation by any means.

Love