I am caring for dad with Vascular dementia

Hi people i am caring for my dad who has Vascular dementia he is coming to end of life and has district nurses coming out daily to see to his bed sores… here is my question dad come home from hospital earlier this year with what the class has end of life meds which can only be given by the district nurse now with dad getting worse with every passing day i asked the question when do i know the time is for the drugs, and she gave me the information which was ok what she said next shocked me she said call the number you have for us and we will be out with in 2 hours… i was disgusted and shocked at the time to come out do not get me wrong i know they need to get here but 2 hours he could pass in really awful pain in that amount of time.

the company that covers the district nursing in this area is “Locala”

any comments or advise please?

Martin C.

Hi Martin. This is a really difficult time for you both, and I can understand why you’re concerned.

I don’t know of any way around this. But I will point out one thing. The 2 hours is a maximum. They can also be there a lot quicker - a lot depends on where the nurses are and how busy they are. I understand that’s no comfort for you, but I would imagine that you already know the signs when he needs some help with pain relief, so you’ll hopefully recognise the signs when things get more difficult and help can be on the way.

Hi Charles thank you for replying to my post,

I understand that the 2 hours is worse case but that should not even be a option in my opinion, for someone to have the possibility of suffering that length of time when they are passing is awful if it be my dad or another person.

Thank you

Martin C.

Hi Martin - I don’t disagree: there should be some way to ensure that family carers are trained to administer the drugs - perhaps arranging authorisation over the phone (describing symptoms, etc).

Has the doctor arranged NHS Continuing Healthcare for you, and written an end of life plan too?