Help -is there a company that responds in non-emergency situations??

[CocktailQueen]

DH is MIL's sole relative. MIL has dementia but still lives at home. We live 2 hours from her. She left a message on dh's mobile this morning saying she had a problem and to call her. DH called her ten times today and she didn't answer the phone.

Finally got her at 6.15pm. Her loo door had blown shut and she can't open it. DH had to drive down to sort it out.

Her carer went in to see her today and the carer didn't call to say there had been a problem - which is a separate problem! Apparently the carer couldn't open the door either (and if that is the case and they didn't ring to let us know, there will be trouble)!

Is there a company that can respond/we can contact if something like this happens to MIL again and dh can't go down to see her, for any reason? Unfortunately, she has no neighbours she knows/trusts enough to let in the house to help, but is there anything else we can do?

She has Mascot Telecare - would it send someone out to help her in a similar situations? What do older people do who live by themselves and have no family to help out? Any advice would be great.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Nothing formal that I'm aware of. It would be worth asking tele are if they could help in similar situations.

Do you know of a local trustworthy handyman who she could call (programme number into her phone?)

The carers lack of action is a concern. Hope you can get to the bottom of that.

[ChangeyMcNamerson]

You need to contact local social services and ask if there is a call out system they have.

My mil has an alarm she wears on her wrist which she can press if she falls and someone either comes out or an ambulance is called, depending on the urgency of it. Cannot remember what it is called though, and she is in hospital ATM so can't check.

She also has a little box outside her house with a coded lock on with her house key inside for services to use if they can't open the door.

Hope you can get it sorted, I can sympathise as we went through similar before this alarm was put in place.

[CocktailQueen]

Changey - she already has Mascot Telecare - tho whether she'd wear it or remember to use it if she had to is another matter). Think I will ring them to clarify just when they wold come out. They don't do key safe thing in her area - we give them a set of her keys.

[ggirl]

You could check with the surgery to see if there is a local befriending /hanydman service. I know we have something like this in our area.I am community nurse.
We have a community independence team that is affiliated with the social services, they would be able to help you with contacts.

[CocktailQueen]

Thanks ggirl - but a befriending service wouldn't help in situations like that - I have already looked into this for MIL's area. There is a handyman service tho - I will check and see if they cover things like this. Out of hours etc. Sigh.

[pippop1]

When you say they "don't do key safe thing in her area" do you mean that the carers won't use one or that you don't get one for free?

We got a local locksmith to fit one and it wasn't too pricey. Really worth the cost though as if someone is going round they can definitely get in if you (trust them) give them the code. For example a hairdresser that you have arranged or a Dr.

[CocktailQueen]

No - the Mascot Telecare people don't do a key safe. We give them a key.
So far MIL is letting in the carers so will see how that goes. Thanks, pippop.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

It's not to say that you couldn't get a key safe installed for people other than telecare staff to use. Might be a little bit of reassurance for you?

[CocktailQueen]

Iwish - I see. The problem is there is nobody else local to MIL really to help her. :(

[pippop1]

But if you had a key safe installed (in a difficult-to-see place) you could give the code to someone in an emergency (and it can be changed if you have a problem with it). I can see it's very difficult.

We had my MIL's Yale lock changed recently as she was putting the latch down from the inside to lock it which meant that the carers couldn't get in using the key from the keysafe. Had it changed to one that can only have the latch put down when the door is open. It cost a fortune to change it and we told her it was dodgy and needed servicing. If she won't let carers in she has to go into a home but she doesn't understand that as she thinks there is nothing wrong with her. Same as your situation, no neighbours that are trustworthy (or interested) but we live only 5 miles away so can be there fairly quickly.

[CMOTDibbler]

Since my parents had a keysafe, I've felt much better that someone would be able to get into the house if necessary - like the other week when they were both in hospital and were fretting about the cats being fed. I live 80 miles away.

With the door, the local authority where mum and dad live have a scheme where you can pay a flat rate for odd jobs - £17 an hour iirc, and so recently they had the front gate fixed, the kitchen tap sorted and something else done all for that one cost. Safety related stuff is free - so hand rails, smoke alarms, shower seat, and their key safe was all done for free.

Age UK might know of local schemes that would be helpful

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

Have you tried the local churches? Our town has a scheme where people volunteer to help neighbours or anyone locally with small diy jobs, transport, shopping etc. It's not restricted to people who attend church, either for volunteers or recipients, but it's co-ordinated by one of them.

My DH is a volunteer and fairly often gets a call asking him to fix something quickly.