hello
@Icandothis
a warm welcome to DTP
sorry to hear of your mum's hospital admissions ... it's good that she'll now be having carer visits ... I hope that will help with prompting her to drink and keep hydrated
if you believe your mum still has some capacity, as long as your mum can grasp what the LPAs are for ie so you can help her manage her affairs, and agrees to give her permission at the time of signing, you'll be wise to try to arrange these ... if possible urge her to have 2 Attorneys to act jointly and severally
https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
if, however, you think your mum no longer has capacity at all, you will need to apply to be her Deputy to have the legal authority to manage her financial affairs, and this does come with costs to be paid from her funds ... if she has property which may need to be sold at some point, make sure asking permission for this is included in the application, or another specific application will have to be made later
https://www.gov.uk/become-deputy/apply-deputy