care at home

[PaygeTurner]

I have agreed to care for my Grandma, aged 100, at her home.

I am to go round there by myself (without my family) for 2 nights per week, Saturday to Monday, while my sister and my parents take the remaining 5 nights.

She is weakened following heart failure and death of her son, who died I think from the strain of looking after her (he lived with her).

The idea is she should stay in her home because it's familiar and she has friends locally since she has lived there for 100 years.

This is a good idea for her, but not so much for us.

I wonder if anyone knows about carers?

She is not stable on her feet and it would be a concern to leave her either overnight (she was admitted to hospital a few months ago after an overnight turn that was heart failure leading to a great deterioration in her condition), or for longer than a couple of hours during the day. Not much direct personal care needed though.

Hi. Contact your local social services office and ask for a full assessment of need to be completed with your Grandma. They should arrange for someone to visit her at home, with you and other family present, to take into account all her health, medical and social needs before advising you about what you may be entitled to in terms of care and support.

Although your Grandma may not need huge amounts of direct care, Social Services still have access and can make referrals to additional services such as meds management and Telecare etc so that she is less likely to come to any harm during the periods where she is at home unsupervised. They might even refer to Occupational Therapy and request an assessment just to make sure her home environment is as safe as can be and see whether she might benefit from any aids and adaptations to make it that bit easier for her to mobilise and get around independently.

Social Services will be able to give you loads of info and advice about the different types of help available and can point you in the right direction.
Including link to a website with info about Telecare (just to give you an idea as to what sort of things they offer) and meds management / blister pack info.

www.nhs.uk/Planners/Yourhealth/Pages/Telecare.aspx
www.medicineblisterpacks.co.uk/

Try Caring4u...very good care company!