Category Archives: Mixed Dementia

Dementia: ‘Don’t Get Old!’

Mixed Dementia

The following article is reproduced with the kind permission of the author:

Dynamite…
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
There are whizz-bangs, fireworks, explosions, detonations and blowing-up.
Yesterday’s report, from the National Audit Office was a boom, bang and blowing-apart of social care policy.
I don’t think I have seen such an excoriating dissection of policy, ever.  Here are some extracts: 
  • In 2016-17, the annual turnover of all care staff was 27.8%.
  • The vacancy rate for nurses more than doubled between 2012/13 and 2016/7. 
  • Since 2010, regulated adult social care establishments have to have a registered manager… in 2016-17, the vacancy rate was 11.3%.
  • The Department does not have an up-to-date care workforce strategy and roles and responsibilities of the bodies involved in delivering care are not clear. 
  • The Department cannot demonstrate that the sector is sustainably funded. Between 2010/11 and 2016/17, spending on care by local authorities (including funding transferred from the NHS through the Better Care Fund), reduced by 5.3% in real terms
  • Around half of care workers were paid £7.50 per hour or below (the National Living Wage is £7.20). An hourly rate of £7.50 per hour equates to an annual salary of around £14,625, before tax. 
  • Four-fifths of local authorities are paying fees to providers that are below the benchmark costs of care.
  • The Department does not have a current workforce strategy and key commitments it has made to both enhance training and career development and tackle recruitment and retention challenges have not been followed through. 
  • There is no evidence that the Department is exercising oversight over local authorities and local health and care partnerships for their responsibilities relating to the adult social care workforce.
The DH have made a response to all this but it is so puerile, I can’t be bothered with it.  
In a move, the day preceding the publication of the report, Communities Secretary, Savid Javid gave local authorities a £150m bung for next year.
All this against the background of Northampton Council, if it were a business, would be on the edge of doing a Carillion and ten other councils up to their necks in irrecoverable debt.
What does this mean?  Well, there is an annual social care funding gap of about £2.3bn.  Unlike the NHS, local authorities must balance their books each year.  They cannot carry forward a deficit.
A fairer-funding review is on the way.  A green paper on the future of funding adult social care has been pulled from the Treasury and given to a Minister in the DH.
Local government is skint.
The knock on effect; to make savings councils have changed their eligibility criteria for receiving adult social care, consequently the number getting care has dropped by a quarter.  After 2014, the way the data was collected has changed, now no one knows what’s going on.
It’s probably fair to say about 900,000 elderly frail people, in receipt of no care whatever, are refugees in our own system.
And, the NHS is propping up social care.  Central government funding for councils was cut by a third during the last Parliament. Of the £16bn LAs spend on adult social care, £2bn came from the NHS.
So, from what I can discover those are the facts.  The ugly, stripped-pine facts.  Facts of neglect, nonchalance, unconcern and a cavalier disregard from a blasé government which neither we nor the older people in our society deserve.
I don’t know what to say… this government is drifting, it is losing the intellectual high ground, it is not facing up to the big challenges.  
 
It looks to me like government has given up on its people….
 
It is shelving problems, delaying answers and procrastinating.  We are watching the infrastructure of care crumble away. 
On June 7th 1983, in the back of a car on the way to a speech in Bridgend, Neil Kinnock scribbled some notes.
His voice hoarse from campaigning he delivered the speech of his life.
He concluded with;
‘I warn you not to be ordinary, not to be young, not to fall ill… I warn you, not to get old.’ 
 
… dynamite.
Have a thoughtful weekend.

Dementia: Sharing The Joy

Mixed Dementia

 

Lots of joy in the last few days with thoughtful support from local people:

  • A Heating Engineer who brought warmth back to our house and found time to engage Maureen.  He saw I was struggling when she ‘wanted to go home’ and tried to distract her by inviting her to watch him as he serviced the fire.
  • An elderly neighbour who popped across to tell me she hadn’t forgotten us but had been confined to quarters with impetigo.
  • A local man who wanted to know how we were doing who just happened to mention was expecting further surgery. I was aware that he was already recovering from the removal of a kidney!
  • The staff at the local Branch of Lloyds Pharmacy who always give Maureen a warm welcome when she has her blood pressure checked.
  • Maureen’s beautiful smile this morning when I tracked her down after she had moved from sleeping beside me to the sofa in the lounge.

As Kate Swaffer says life with dementia is better than expected!

Dementia: Going On Gardening Leave

Mixed Dementia

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It’s a struggle here this morning as nothing seems to be grounding Maureen.  Even music on YouTube has not done the trick!

Her initial concerns were about the wellbeing of her children: she wanted the phone number of their school to let them know she would be unable to pick them up today.  Now she is packing to go home and wanting me to put some of her belongings into the car.  Fortunately, the sun is shining this morning and I am going to try to entice her into helping me tidy up the garden.

Dementia: The Benefits Of Dancing

Mixed Dementia

Maureen has obviously heard about the latest research on the benefits of dancing:

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Our Sun Room often turns into a dance studio as she moves around to The Sound of Music.  The mask is because I just can’t get the hang of pixelating videos.  Unfortunately, it means you can’t see her beautiful smile and the sheer joy on her face.

Dementia: ‘Tell Me About It’

Mixed Dementia

Another excellent communication tip from Teepa Snow:

I always find Teepa’s videos helpful and need to include ‘tell me about it’ in my repertoire!

I’m optimistic that rest will help Maureen and I recover from our ordeal on Wednesday.  We were both extremely tired yesterday and Maureen was frequently distressed that our children were at risk.  She remembered that she had been to hospital but thought it was to deal with her ongoing problems with her left leg and foot.

Dementia: A Real Cause For Concern

Mixed Dementia, ,

 

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There was a period of real concern yesterday when the Emergency Services were disagreeing over their powers under the Mental Capacity Act.  Maureen was clearly vulnerable, cold and at risk of injury from passing traffic yet, the people on the ground felt powerless to direct her into the waiting ambulance.  Fortunately, the staff at my Brother’s Nursing Home came to her rescue and helped her to get the assessment she needed.

This isn’t the first time I have come across problems with getting Maureen to a place of safety when she has been distressed.  On our way to the hospital, our Paramedic outlined how the Emergency Services were often at odds with each other as they try to cope with inadequate resources.

Maureen is very confused this morning convinced that she has two young children to contend with.  She is exhausted after the events of yesterday.

I was naive to think I could solve the problems over the lack of visits from her family by taking her to see them.  She had a lovely time with two of her grandchildren yesterday evening Maureen but woke up  crying this morning because ‘she never sees her family.’

What An Amazing Woman

Mixed Dementia,

Maureen never ceases to amaze me with her resilience in the face of adversity.

She awoke at 2.30am completely lost: terrified that she couldn’t remember anything.

Two hours later, with a cup of tea in hand, she is singing this one:

She is currently getting ready to travel to Coventry as she wants to cheer my mum up.

That wife of mine is simply AMAZING!

A Great Start To The Day

Mixed Dementia

 

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We both got off to a flyer yesterday morning.  As I was shutting the door on my way out I could hear our Carer easing Maureen into the shower.  A short while afterward I was a short distance away sorting out a missing link in our Care Package.

I’m keeping my finger crossed that Ashgrove Care Home will be able to accommodate our needs for scheduled Respite Breaks.  The Manager is willing to book Maureen in for Rolling Respite once she has conducted her assessment.

I’m confident that the new regime at Ashgrove will mean that Maureen is in safe hands.  The staff has clearly worked very hard to ensure that the place is now up to the standards expected by our Clinical Commissioning Group.  Those days when residents could escape or find themselves lost in an unused part of the building – as Maureen did – are long gone.  The other advantages are that all rooms are downstairs and Maureen loves spending time in the internal garden.

Ashgrove is so convenient:  it is a short stroll from where we live.  It will be such a relief to know that Rolling Respite in a safe place is only an assessment away.  How great that it now looks likely  I will be on that plane to Australia in April to catch up with my old school pal and his wife.  Then if I’m really lucky I might even get to meet Kate Swaffer, Dominique K and Leah Bisiani to thank them for their exceptional support.

A Six Hour Break

Mixed Dementia

 

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From today Focus Adult Social Care has agreed to fund 6 hours of additional sits a week.  This means that I will get a 6-hour break (10 until 4) every Monday.  There is also a 3-hour sit in place on Wednesday evening to enable me to attend local Buddhist Meditation Classes.

I need to spend some of my time today looking into alternatives for Respite Breaks.  No Care Home can ever guarantee availability.   I need to have options for those times when Alderlea cannot accommodate Maureen in a downstairs room.