Who is responsible for overseeing medications

[Whiskers184]

Hello all, long time lurker and first time poster here. My husband and I care for his mum who has moderate dementia. She lives alone in a sheltered flat, has meal deliveries and chemist filled dossette box for her meds. She has recovered well from a recent broken hip and currently has a care visit once a day mainly to check on whether she has taken her meds. However they are saying that this service may well be stopped soon. She will remember some days to take her pills and forget other days or take two days worth, pretty standard in dementia patients I know. Alarms don’t work and she does not have internet. we know that we could call each day but that does not solve the issue as we cannot actually see if she does indeed take the pills.
The council run social care office says that her need is not part of their remit as it is an health issue and that we should contact the doctor. The doctor says it is indeed their responsibility. We are at a stalemate. Does anyone have any advice?

 

[Rayreadynow]

The person responsible for taking the medication is the patient.

The carers can prompt medication but they may decide that if they can no longer be sure its being taken they may use it as a reason to stop visits.

Community nurses are also reluctant to be responsible for medication is what I found.

 

[canary]

The care agency that we use for OH have said that they would give him his meds, so long as the drugs are in packaging from the pharmacy with his name on it and it is written into his care plan. We dont actually use this service as I am here to remind him.

It may vary from care agency to care agency. You could try asking other care agencies if they do this

 

[Banjomansmate]

Five years ago one of the major reasons for carers to visit was to supervise The Banjoman taking his medication..

 

[backin]

Hello all, long time lurker and first time poster here. My husband and I care for his mum who has moderate dementia. She lives alone in a sheltered flat, has meal deliveries and chemist filled dossette box for her meds. She has recovered well from a recent broken hip and currently has a care visit once a day mainly to check on whether she has taken her meds. However they are saying that this service may well be stopped soon. She will remember some days to take her pills and forget other days or take two days worth, pretty standard in dementia patients I know. Alarms don’t work and she does not have internet. we know that we could call each day but that does not solve the issue as we cannot actually see if she does indeed take the pills.
The council run social care office says that her need is not part of their remit as it is an health issue and that we should contact the doctor. The doctor says it is indeed their responsibility. We are at a stalemate. Does anyone have any advice?

We got mum and echo show so we could use the drop in function to remind and watch her take tablets. We made a game and would count together the number of tablets she needed to take , she used to carry on the counting when we needed to put carer visits in place much to their amusement

Like everything else, it was time limited in usefulness.

 

[Whiskers184]

The person responsible for taking the medication is the patient.

The carers can prompt medication but they may decide that if they can no longer be sure its being taken they may use it as a reason to stop visits.

Community nurses are also reluctant to be responsible for medication is what I found.

Thanks for replying @Rayreadynow . I probably used the wrong word with responsible! We really just want someone to check if she’s taken them and if not, to prompt her to do so. It seems simple to us but it’s obviously not.

 

[Whiskers184]

Five years ago one of the major reasons for carers to visit was to supervise The Banjoman taking his medication..

@Banjomansmate , that’s exactly what we want too, if only it we could sort it!

 

[Whiskers184]

We got mum and echo show so we could use the drop in function to remind and watch her take tablets. We made a game and would count together the number of tablets she needed to take , she used to carry on the counting when we needed to put carer visits in place much to their amusement

Like everything else, it was time limited in usefulness.

Thanks for replying @backin . She doesn’t have internet at the moment but maybe we’ll have to think about it.

 

[Whiskers184]

The care agency that we use for OH have said that they would give him his meds, so long as the drugs are in packaging from the pharmacy with his name on it and it is written into his care plan. We dont actually use this service as I am here to remind him.

It may vary from care agency to care agency. You could try asking other care agencies if they do this

Hi @canary . Her meds are packed in the chemist and the Carers are prompting her at the moment, but we’re told that this service is temporary and likely to stop very soon. We just can’t understand why it is not classed as a care need that she needs to be prompted to take her pills.

 

[sdmhred]

Hi @Whiskers184

Is this a reablement package of 6 weeks free care following the broken hip? If so they won’t carry this on as this is a short term service.

Has she had a full social care assessment for all Her needs?

Sometime if social services are fundinf say a breakdfast visit the carers will watch tablets as a side line.

Otherwise she can privately pay a carer to come in.

sorry - tired now this may not make much sense 🙈🙈

 

[Whiskers184]

Hi @Whiskers184

Is this a reablement package of 6 weeks free care following the broken hip? If so they won’t carry this on as this is a short term service.

Has she had a full social care assessment for all Her needs?

Sometime if social services are fundinf say a breakdfast visit the carers will watch tablets as a side line.

Otherwise she can privately pay a carer to come in.

sorry - tired now this may not make much sense 🙈🙈

Thanks for replying @sdmhred and hope you got some rest! Her current care package is in addition to the 6 week hospital discharge free care. It was cut from 4 visits to 1 as she can do her own personal care etc, it really is just for the meds prompt. I think we will have to look into a privately paid Carer visit.

 

[Rayreadynow]

Is the free care for six weeks still available now? I thought it had been stopped.

 

[yoy]

I was told by mum's SS that they do not commision care visits purely for taking meds if this was all she needed. In the end she did need some social care, so ended up with a private care company coming in, who would also prompt her to take her meds. They were not allowed to "give" meds, but what they did do was remove the meds from the chemists nomad, put them in her hand with a glass of water, and then stand and watch her swallow them. They had a column in the care log for meds where they would then write "given and seen taken", so there was a record.
So it might be worth ringing round a few local companies and see what kind of procedure they have for this (as you have found - no-one else wants to know).

 

[SherwoodSue]

I hope you are claiming attendance allowance? If so could it be used to offset a visit a day from a care agency to check on mum generally and supervise medication? My experience is that they will prompt mum to take her own meds as long as they are in a blister pack. But yes. Once the discharge package is over it’s up to you
Your mum may enjoy the company too.

 

[Whiskers184]

I hope you are claiming attendance allowance? If so could it be used to offset a visit a day from a care agency to check on mum generally and supervise medication? My experience is that they will prompt mum to take her own meds as long as they are in a blister pack. But yes. Once the discharge package is over it’s up to you
Your mum may enjoy the company too.

Hi @SherwoodSue , yes she has AA, yes we think that is what we will need to do. Sometimes she likes the company, sometimes not, you know how it can be!

 

[Whiskers184]

I was told by mum's SS that they do not commision care visits purely for taking meds if this was all she needed. In the end she did need some social care, so ended up with a private care company coming in, who would also prompt her to take her meds. They were not allowed to "give" meds, but what they did do was remove the meds from the chemists nomad, put them in her hand with a glass of water, and then stand and watch her swallow them. They had a column in the care log for meds where they would then write "given and seen taken", so there was a record.
So it might be worth ringing round a few local companies and see what kind of procedure they have for this (as you have found - no-one else wants to know).

Thanks for replying @yoy . I think that’s what we will do

 

[Whiskers184]

Is the free care for six weeks still available now? I thought it had been stopped.

@Rayreadynow She had the post hospital 6 week package and the care was passed to the local council enablement team but given her physical recovery and lack of other personal needs, it is likely that the visit purely to check that she is taking her meds will cease soon.

 

[Anthoula]

To be honest I`m beginning to wonder exactly what support and practical care the Social Services do provide! Seems to me they are well paid for not doing very much. Sorry, I`m feeling a bit grumpy to-day!

 

[sdmhred]

https://www.scie.org.uk/assessment-and-eligibility/determination-eligibility/eligibility-outcomes/

I don’t blame you @Anthoula

This link explains how the social care assessment should be carried out. Social workers then should put in a care package to meet the needs - but that very much depends on the quality and availability of carers in the area - which is a whole other issue.

My cynical side says don’t be disabled, or be rich!

BUT I do know for certain there are a few good social care workers out there - just working in an awful system!