mother has been assessed by enablement as to needing 1 visit per day, mother takes meds 2 times per day. She keeps forgetting to take it, we bought one of those machines that dish out the meds set to 2 times a day, now she is removing the meds and not taking it. They found around 20 tablets on the side and mother insists the machine went off twice this morning, which is not possible we have had this ourselves in the past. Fortunately, the new company arrived to do their own assessment at the same time and saw the problem, they now say she needs another assessment by enablement and some safe guarding measures in place. They always hark back to dosset boxes, they will not work, mother will open them all up, we had the same with the other medications which is why we bought the electronic pill dispenser. How can they sort this out? Apparently medication is not part of the assessment anyway. But I was told she should not miss 2 lots of meds, she has COPD, AF, Heart failure, kidney failure, osteoporosis, and we are waiting for a diagnosis of dementia, although they told me at the hospital she has dementia. What help can we get her for her medications?
I just hate it when people tell me what my son with LD needs, when I’ve been telling everyone for years, but as he doesn’t live with me any more, because of my health, they always seem to think they know it all and I know nothing! If the carers say she needs something then THEY not you, should see to it that she gets what she needs from them, not pass the buck back to you. Just don’t let them do it! Are they privately, funded, or through Social Services?
She has not got proper carers yet, they were going to assess her this morning when the enablement team found her medications not taken. They have refused to take her until another assessment has been done. We keep telling them, me and my sister have to keep taking the food out of her fridge as its often off, stinking with mold growing on it, we order her new food she never throws out the off stuff. And the tablet problems now as well. Mum does not help as she refuses any help from them she has had 1 cup of tea made by them so far she says she is fine and does not need help.
It certainly sounds like she has dementia, and that she is beginning to be a danger to herself. I suggest that you read up more on “safeguarding vulnerable adults”. Does mum own or rnet her house?
Does she have over £23,000 in savings? Yes/No
No to the savings and pays rent
She is complaining again about her foot, phoned GP. she ranted on at me saying that my mother is irrational and should not be living on her own!, She has just been assessed by social services and they say she is perfectly capable of living on her own with support. Her GP sent me an email a few weeks ago slagging my sister off, for standing up to her. She is absolutely horrid. She said in the end as i didn’t bite or argue with her well I said what am i supposed to do, she is calling me and my sister crying in pain, she has a pain patch and is still in pain. GP said well i will try and get out to her tomorrow.
In a way, the fact that the GP is fed up with mum’s behaviour is a good thing, and so is her financial situation, because it means that if mum went into residential accommodation, Social Services would have to pay most of the cost. It’s therefore cheaper for SSD to do whatever they can to keep mum living in her own home, by significantly increasing the amount of care she is getting. If the GP doesn’t want mum to be living in the community, the solution is really simple, the GP gets in touch with SSD and does something about it!!! Maybe it’s time for you to investigate the care homes in your area, that specialise in dementia care, or EMI, elderly mentally infirm. Very soon mum is going to need full time care. Make sure wherever she goes, she will never ever have to move again.
But we are being told by ss that she is capable of living in her flat with the right help. We do not want to put her in a home until we really have to. The GP is nasty, seen others there and they have been much nicer and a lot more accommodating. The GP seems to think my mother is being a nuisance on purpose. She never complains unless its really bad, she broke her ankle a few years ago and it took her 3 days of pain before she would attend outpatients, they could not believe she waited so long.
I would never advocate anyone going into residential care until all other options have been explored, but you do need to look ahead because sadly mum is only going to get worse, and it’s almost inevitable that residential will become the only option left. You need to decide well in advance where would, and would not be suitable, and put mum on a waiting list, because the best places have waiting lists, and you don’t want mum going miles away because of a crisis.
However, in the short term there seems to be disagreement between the hospital and the doctor, and the care agency. They need to agree, maybe through having a Safeguarding vulnerable Adults meeting (which you should be involved in) exactly what mum needs so that she can live safely and happily at home for as long as possible. Much more extra support is the only way now. SSD will fund that IF they know that residential is the only other option, and they’ll be paying for it!
Therefore it’s in their interests to give mum the support she needs.
I’ve had over 40 years experience, off and on, of this sort of issue. It’s so important to work out how to get what you want as quickly and as easily as you possibly can, to avoid a crisis especially.
My Mother had dementia but never had any carers other than my Sister on a fairly regular basis. Not daily as she doesn’t drive and so my b-i-l had to take her when he could, (it was a 20 minute drive for them - 4 hours for me).
We never found a solution to the medication problem. Dosset boxes don’t work for dementia patients as they often literally don’t know what day it is, (I suggested to Mum that she turned the TV on and look at Ceefax/Teletext to find out and she looked at me as though I was the mad one).
We arranged with a neighbour to take the correct pills in daily, this worked well for a couple of weeks, until my mother went to the neighbours house and accused her of stealing her pills. Understandably she wouldn’t proceed with it after that.
It’s a shame that the DN is not allowed to do it, but I don’t think there is anything that you can set up for a dementia patient that will work all the time, other than someone physically handing them the pills and watching them take them, and also ensuring that they don’t have access to the remaining supply.
So the DN is not allowed to dispense meds? Didn’t know that, was hoping that is what would happen. 
I know they can prescribe things like antibiotics for a catheter infection as this has happened for my wife, but to the best of my knowledge they won’t hand you your previously prescribed pills to take.
The main reason why DN is not allowed to dispense meds are the guidelines for dispensing meds that they need to follow.
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