How much support can we expect in sheltered housing?

[Bambambini]

My father has Alzheimer's and has been in a shelters housing unit for 10 months. How much support is the staff at sheltered housing expected to provide for their more vulnerable residents? And basically how independent are the residents supposed to be. My father is needing more and more help and becoming confused. He has carers 3 times a day and family members pop in several times a day to check on him, take him down for his evening meal, do his washing, clean him up as he has become incontinent etc.

If anyone has experience or worked in shelters housing, some advice or information on what help we can expect would be much appreciated.

In my experience (caring for a now deceased friend), sheltered is for those who are pretty independent but need the security of having staff on hand. It sounds as if your father's needs are far greater than that.

The next step (before a care/nursing home) could be very sheltered housing which was where my friend lived. There are less of these available but you may find that a new assessment is required to ensure that your father gets the best and most appropriate care for his current needs. Good luck

As married says, sheltered is generally for those who maybe need a little assistance but are generally independent. in my area sheltered housing wardens only work between 0830 and 1700, and carers and OOH emergency team will provide support outwith this but are not immediately on hand. It may be that he needs more 24/7 care, is he at risk of unintentional self harm? Ie fire risk when cooking?/flooding due to memory issues re turning off taps/falls? If he does need full time care he may need a specialist dementia unit but an up to date assessment is definitely where you need to go next.

DM is in "very sheltered", which means there is a warden around 24 hours a day, though at night the warden is asleep but there is someone else (a laundry worker on night shift I think) who is available to respond to problems and wake the warden as needed.

Very sheltered seems to mean a wide range of services: laundry, weekly clean, reception who will do things like order groceries or taxis and check on residents, handyman, gardens, coffee lounge, cooked lunch, and some entertainments, which allow residents to stay living independently in their flats. However it does not include care. That has to be bought in, and over time I have had to increase the hours. However it is still a lot nicer and an awful lot cheaper than my mother remaining in her own flat or going into a home, as she need someone there there at night.

If there were regular incidents of my mother wandering off, leaving the gas on, or being abusive to other residents, I would be told that she was no longer safe in that setting and that she needed to move, probably to a dementia unit. However hopefully by bumping up the hours of care I can avoid this for a while.