Care at Home
- Many people who have dementia develop complex needs. They may require care or supervision through the day and also during the night. This need for care is often more than one person - a carer - can manage alone.
- When a person’s needs are developing and another pair of hands is required, it’s time to seek extra input.
- If you have family members/friends who can be engaged to share the task of caring, you will benefit from having a rota and agreeing a consistent way of caring. It will help the person who has dementia if carers respond to their needs in a similar fashion.
- If you wish to engage paid carers you could contract privately. Find out which agencies are registered in your area by contacting the Care Quality Commission Telephone: 03000 616161.
- The person who has dementia is entitled to an assessment of their needs. Contact the local Social Services Department and request an assessment. If care is needed, it may be provided by the local authority or an agency contracted by them. A financial assessment will assess the person’s contribution towards this care.
- The government has introduced other ways of arranging care services via direct payments and individual and personal budgets. More information about these and general care at home can be sought from your local authority or from a voluntary body such as Age UK. Its factsheet ‘Help with care in your own home - ACIG01’ is available by telephoning 0800 00 99 66 or can be downloaded at the information and advice section of Age UK.
Care Homes
- Moving into a care home is a big step to take – for both the person with dementia and for their carer. It can be a huge change in someone’s life and rarely takes place without a lot of heart searching, hard work and planning.
- Major concerns are, for example, how to pay for a care home place, how to find the right home, how to ensure that care is as good as it should be, what happens after a person has moved in.
- There are many organisations which which can provide advice and support. Just two are:
- Age UK which has comprehensive information about ‘How to find a care home’ and related subjects - contact details on previous page.
- The Alzheimer’s Society which has a series of fact sheets on matters related to care and support. Contact the head office on Tel: 020 7423 3500. The Alzheimer’s Society also hosts a forum where carers can ‘talk’ to each other online, sharing their knowledge and experience of this and other subjects.
- For people who have moved into a care home and their relatives there is a specialist organisation called the Relatives and Residents Association. This organisation has help, information and support which is informed by extensive experience of the care home industry. Tel 020 7359 8148.
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