Help to find a dementia home

Howdy... Me again!

this is what I feel would be the best route - this on my experience as a Staff Nurse in Dementia Assessment and Community Psychiatric Nurse and now as a Psychiatric Liaison Nurse.

The most important thing is to address this gentleman's needs as much as is possible and practicable... also ensuring that the least restrictive route is the goal.

If he we to go to a care home that couldn't meet his needs, another move would be on the cards... this can be distressing for a Person with dementia, so the 'least number of moves possible' is the aim.

I would suggest you look for a Mental Health Assessment to see what this chap's needs/problems etc. etc. are... Don't know how your area operates that... but you could always get the GP known to the gent and explain... Then the GP could refer.

If there's a problem that the care home can't manage, then they can explain this to support the need for an assessment - this will ensure the gentleman's needs can be addressed, and as required he could get the support and monitoring to ensure he's encouraged to address his needs and get whatever care he requires to help him function to the best of his abilities, whatever limitations he may have.

Hope any of this is relevant.

Regards.

Neil.

Hi Neil,

I think the son has followed the steps you suggest already. He comments that;

"The problem is that he suffers from vascular dementia and that has affected his frontal lobe. His psychiatrist says this is a common problem and that my dad's case is fairly mild as he is easily distracted."

Having been asked to leave the care home where he had the above assessment, he was recommended a second home by his GP and;

"They said they specialised in dementia care, that this was a common problem and they knew how to handle it. It is true they do more and the staff seemed to cope with my dad making suggestions to them but as soon as another female resident was involved they panic because (quite rightly) they get flack from residents who are paying £950 a week to keep their loved ones safe."

He then goes on to point out that;

"We need a home that can cope with challenging behaviour (and not one that says it can until there is an incident),"

I wonder how common this problem is?

Is there a care home that you know of that would genuinely be able to help this gentleman?

Kind regards

Debbie
www.best-care-home.co.uk

Hi again Debbie.

Firstly, I would not be able to recommend any one nursing care home - a Professional Issue which prevents me from doing so - so I apologise re: that.

What I would recommend is still to go down the assessment route - and consider contacting social services for placement information.

What I would say is this - not every care home is suitable for an individual and vice versa - and it would be unfortunate for the gentleman in question to be moved and moved and... you see what I'm getting at.

If there is an IDENTIFIED problem with the gentleman that needs attention, then again I'd say he needs to be assessed to see how this can be resolved, or managed to ensure his needs are met - the referral pathway that would often be followed in the communtiy when I worked in that job would be G.P. first, then Mental Health/Social Services (depending on need identified).

A good assessment will then help towards a placement - a care home could then send out staff to do their assessment and supporting information (rather than 'word of mouth' and opinion) will help immensely.

Not long ago I did a risk assessment on a Person going to care - the risks that had been discussed had been resolved and I had supporting information and the conclusion of my own input to acknowledge this - without such, the Person might have been perceived in a different way (example - risks that were no longer present could have been an issue).

Apologies if this is long-winded, but I want to get across the best way to get this gentleman's needs met - rather than find a care home alonge the "if they can't mange, then no-one can" - which may have more distressed people there that could impact on your gentleman's own Mental Health.

Again, I would say the gent. needs assessing - if there's been a change in his behaviour that's happened suddenly, there may be some physical problem perhaps? Not trying to be a 'Job's Comforter' but the issue could regard delirium, medication, deterioration in cognition etc. etc. any number of things that may find resolution once investigated.

For info. on care homes though, I've attached the following link.:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/registeredservicesdirectory/rsquicksearch.asp

Hope that helps.

Neil.

Hello Debbie. I know it has been some time since we had an update on the situation described above, with the very consistently good advice from Neil. Are you able to tell us how things went and any solutions found?
Professionally I cannot tell about some of my cases recently other than to say that this issue is common -but pathways like full assessment, extra funding for support and a through health-check etc should be part of further assessment. Unfortunately, as has been said, not all establishments who say they are geared up for peoople with the dementias actually are!
What I can relate is my experience with a member of my close family who was able to be treated in a very good place, very geared up to his needs, coping well with his occassional outbursts and without the need for too much chemical restraints. We perhaps will need more of these types of units, with very well qualified,dedicated ( and sufficient) staffing. In todays cash strapped society, the battle will be up-hill but well worth taking part in. I hope things went OK with your patient/client and would welcome any feedback. The unit my father was cared in, and eventually died in was an NHS property, with full medical and nursing imput, but one which may soom be relagated to history. It was a "dementia unit" by label, but was his home for the last year of his life.
regards-Dave