How To Know When It’s Time For Someone With Dementia To Move Into Care
Caring for a loved one who is living with dementia is tough, and only gets more challenging as they require more care. So when should someone with dementia move into a residential care home – and who makes the final decision?
If your loved one’s condition has progressed to the point that you feel you or other family members can no longer provide the care they require, then a move to a residential care home may be in their best interests.
Dementia is a progressive condition, after all, and there will come a point where a person will need more support than friends and family can reasonably provide. Here’s what to look out for, to help decide when this is becoming the case:
- The person is being admitted to hospital more frequently, perhaps due to accidents at home.
- You feel worried about their safety when you are not around.
- They are struggling to care for themselves outside arranged periods of additional support, whether from family or domiciliary carers.
- Their behaviour becomes unmanageable, even if only at certain times.
- Your own circumstances change, meaning you are unable to provide the same level of care, or increase this further as required.
- Their emotional state declines significantly, and they become unhappy or lonely.
It can help to write down some of your loved one’s needs, and keep note of how they might be changing or progressing, to help you recognise when it is time to make the shift to residential care.
Who decides when a person with dementia should move into a care home?
Making this decision is never easy, especially when the person concerned may not have the mental capacity to realise what is in their best interests, or to communicate this with others.
However, where possible the person living with dementia should make the decision themselves, with as much help as they require in order to do so.
Even when you, or someone else, makes the final decision, try to keep your loved one as involved with the process as possible.
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal tool that allows a chosen person to make decisions on behalf of somebody living with dementia, when their mental capacity no longer allows them to. An LPA can make the process of moving into a care home easier and less stressful for all involved.
Whoever makes the decision, and for whatever reason, it pays to be as well prepared as possible. It’s a good idea to start thinking, and discussing the option of residential care before it becomes necessary.
Look into the specialist residential dementia care services available in your area, such as Milford Manor Residential Home in Salisbury. Here, adults and older people with a mental health challenge can receive 24/7 specialist care, in comfortable surroundings, prolonging their health, happiness and independence, and giving you peace of mind, too.
If your loved one would benefit from professional care, either at home or in a residential care centre, get in touch with the Wessex Care team today.
