Extra care needed?

[KittensSchmittens]

My DM has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Based on the deterioration scales I would say she's around the end of early stage, beginning of middle stage.

Some things she manages very well - shops and cooks simple meals for herself, gets her self up and dressed, takes dog for a walk, washes her clothes occasionally. Generally manages her daily routine pretty well.

Some things she does very badly - very poorly managed finances, no housework, she rarely showers or brushes her hair, wears the same clothes everyday.

She lives in an annexe in our house. We pay all the bills and for a cleaner and gardener. I am around to ensure she doesn't burn the house down, intercept scammers and occasionally insist she gets in the shower.

Should we be doing more at this stage? I have her permission to talk to the GP and I've recently sent in the POA paperwork to be registered, so will probably be able to do more on the finance side soon.

Should I do more, should we arrange for a carer to do more? I'm not sure what anyone external could do as she manages her day-to-day ok, apart from the hygiene side. She doesn't think there's anything wrong with her of course.

Yes, do more.
Try to help her establish a connection with someone who becomes a carer who may at some stage do her personal care. ( Best if they get to know each other first.)
You can apply for Attendance Allowance which is non means tested which will help cover some of cost.

@Mum5net should we go to a care agency? What care should we ask the agency to arrange? She's independent at the moment, so I don't know what we would pay the carer to do.

We are at the same stage by the sounds of it. We've just employed a carer to come and wash her hair and shower DM once a week.

Care agency would be the easiest way to start. Almost like a befriending service that then can lead to personal care. The hardest thing is to announce that 'Carer X' is going to start helping you with personal care, Mum'. You have to build up to it. So someone who pops in for an hour and comes for a cup of tea then asks if there's anything that can be done to help. Then repeat weekly until a bond is formed. MIL did not kindly to anyone doing her personal care and it was felt we missed a trick by not introducing someone earlier. My DParents had Alzheimer visitors that came twice a week. One took my DF to the supermarket while the other spent time coaxing DM to eat scrambled egg. The sooner you can build in help hopefully the more accepting of it your DM will become.
But you sound like you've made a fabulous start. (If not care agency, maybe someone locally has a recommendation? Dog walkers in our park know everyone and everything! )