My grandmother will be 103 in February. She currently lives at home, rattling around in a too big house where you think she could have an accident any minute. She uses a tea trolley to move around as she is very unstable on her feet. She may have the early stages of dementia, although at her age you kind of think memory loss isn’t a great surprise.
The memory loss and general situation is placing a lot of burden on my parents, themselves in their mid seventies. They have to go round most days, take food or organise food deliveries. My grandmother is always on the phone worrying about something or other. She’s just very vulnerable and ripe for being defrauded, though my parents do have access to her bank account to monitor this.
She refuses to move into a home and is also reluctant to have a live in carer. Because she forgets dangerous incidents and the fact she is creating a lot of stress for my parents in their retirement, she claims all is fine and she can manage with a carer visiting once a day.
I was just wondering whether in such a situation, and despite the fact she can afford private care, you could get a social worker involved? Does anyone have any experience of such a situation? When does it pass the point of it being something unqualified family members just need to cope with?