Ranulph Fiennes - care home restrictions, DoLS ?

[Mixymaxymoxy]

Ranulph Fiennes - does anyone understand what’s happening with him? I’ve read several articles that say his wife has LPA, has put him in a care home / several care homes under false names and against his will, and various friends / relatives are outraged about how he’s being treated. He has Parkinson’s. It’s not clear whether he has capacity.

The article talks about excessive restrictions being placed on his freedom, preventing him from seeing friends etc. The phrase in one article is ‘arrangements for his care were subsequently found to amount to an unauthorised deprivation of his liberty.’ How does that come about? It doesn’t say how these ‘arrangements’ come to be in place? is it just his wife telling the home not to let anyone visit him? Telling them that he has to wear a disguise on walks etc? I’ve only had one relative in a care home, but I can’t imagine the staff there going along with bizarre requests like this 🤷‍♀️ But how would it have worked if we’d said, for example, that specific individuals were not allowed to visit her? Are care homes required to follow instructions from relatives like that?

The article also talks about the lack of a DOLS but implies that his wife should be supplying this to the home: I thought it was the care provider who’d need to apply for this, not family?

i know that there are very knowledgable people on this board and wondered what your take on this story was.

I have LPA for my mother who is in a care home also with parkinsons and related dementia. The care home applied for a DoLS for her and ASC were involved to review this - she was visited by a social worker who had a very long chat with me before and after that visit as she kept saying she wanted to go home (despite that being impossible as the SW agreed). It means that there will need to be a court hearing (and we can't sell her house to help fund her care....).

@Mixymaxymoxy I agree there is some confusion in the media articles. My mother was in a care home for several years with dementia.

It is the care home who request Social Services to do a DoLS. SS then contact the relative to discuss it, and then visit the care home and meet staff and the person concerned. It would normally be at this point that it is picked up that the person does not want to be there and has capacity to make that decision.

His wife did not want the care home to apply for a DoLS, and they cannot legally confine him without one if he requests to leave the premises. Presumably that is why his wife keeps moving him to different care homes.

Re visitors, if someone has LPA they can ask the care home to refuse other visitors for him if they believe that is in the person’s best interests.

I’m sure when my mother moved to a care home they requested proof of identity, so I don’t understand how she is registering him in a false name. Or, indeed, why. If this was all above board, she would pick a care home, register him in his own name, and would not object to a DoLS.

We of course have absolutely no idea if he has a cognitive impairment, but if he has, frequent moves to new settings are rarely a good idea unless unavoidable.

There is a lot being alleged which does seem to raise questions, not least an independent carer apparently being employed to go into the residential home to administer medication, some of which was allegedly prescribed for his wife.

Most people want the very best for those closest to them and put their interests first, but it is sadly not invariable and even those who are well intentioned can sometimes act in misguided and inappropriate ways.

A DOLs isn’t just for mobile people! It’s an important process that legally clarifies the position regarding the liberty of the recipient. For example, my stepfather had a DOLs, was immobile and in a dementia wing of his care home, but repeatedly asked to be let out of the door. If a DOLs wasn’t done, the care home would have been breaking the law by preventing him from leaving (even though he couldn’t actually physically get out). If he had asked me to take him home and I agreed the care home would not have been able to stop me. With a DOLs he was safe and the care home was protected against claims of keeping him in there against his will. One minor benefit was when he had to be taken to A+E a member of staff had to go with him at all times to ensure he didn’t ‘escape’ from hospital.
He was assessed by his Parkinson’s consultant as having Lewy Body dementia then an assessor psychiatrist from the LA adult services team completed the DOLs assessment by carrying out a couple of visits, speaking to me on the phone and speaking to staff in the care home he had gone to for respite after a hospital stay.

Thank you for posting a thread on the EP board. I haven’t actually read any of the full articles as I don’t subscribe to those papers, and the bits on social media made me raise my eyebrows as I could easily imagine that a very understandable and sad situation was being sensationalised. DOLs for example to me feel routine in some circumstances. But I’ve been gathering that a lot of things happening have been unusual. I hope the attention helps RF himself and that any focus on reform doesn’t make life for those with LPAs even harder.

I read this and thought well just do it then, not realising he was subject to an nda. However, does signing an nda mean one can never say anything even if the person is being abused, how’s that legal and how is it worded ?

it’s all very odd and seems like the homes are complicit in this. Surely they have a duty of care?

The care homes aren't complicit, they have reported concerns. That is why the wife has to keep moving him.

I read the full article without paying. If it asks you to register, click "I'll try later" and the full article will appear.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ranulph-fiennes-care-home-wales-illegal-wife-b3056222.html

It's a deeply alarming case and I don't think we should ever be afraid of casting a light on abuses of power.
Someone who has an LPA has had a lot of trust placed in them.

I agree with this. RF is a national figure and there are certainly questions about what has happened here which makes one wonder about how those less rich and powerful would get on, who don't have eg Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, John Simpson and Bear Grylls on the case? Although TBH they would probably have social workers who could intervene at an earlier stage.

From a long career in adult social care, I can think of a few families who I wouldn't have trusted with lots of money, a vulnerable person and a title for a second. Not many, but they exist.

I just said to my mum today, I reckon power-of-attorney will become even more complicated now.

Really what these things are about is how people do their jobs. There is a lot of detail to come out, I’m guessing… obviously we don’t know the whole story.

But it sounds as if the power of attorney has been abused before DOL came into play.

Care homes apply for it to the local authority and they talk to the next of kin and establish the persons medical condition and reasons for being in a home and what they are like. Been there, done that today with elderly father.

This story is such a crock of shit designed to make it sound like he is in prison. I have LPA for a parent with Parkinson’s who is in a care home. Parkinson’s is absolutely hideous and almost no one can meet the needs of someone with it after the first 3-5 years. 80% of people with Parkinson’s develop Parkinson’s dementia within 8 years of diagnosis. You can only use your powers of LPA if the person has lost capacity - which RP will have by now. The DOLS thing is neither here nor there. This is just an awful story designed to sell papers and I feel so bad for his poor wife. Hand up anyone who thinks they can care for RP at this stage of his Parkinson’s alone, at home, 24/7 - there isn’t anyone who could sustain it.

His wife is just trying to protect his privacy.

Perhaps the story gained the traction it did because his stepson was so concerned?
That isn’t going to play well.

I’d like to see how many of his so called friends who are up in arms about this, are prepared to look after him at their own house. They’d last one night before realising that RP can’t function for even two hours without needing assistance. 82 with Parkinson’s for many years. That situation needs an army of carers. Almost everyone in a care home blames a relative for them being in it and almost all maintain they don’t want to be there. My parent will tell everyone they don’t want to be there. What they don’t tell their friends is how they can’t even manage the most basic tasks alone anymore and how they are a risk to themselves and others in many many ways that are hidden from friends and reserved only for the poor beaten down spouse/adult children carer.

There’s always some extended family member who aren’t impacted by the day to day care, full of judgementま but also full of excuses as to why they can’t be the full time carer either. I suspect the stepson Is thinking of the £80,000 per year fees reducing the potential inheritance pot. It’s more common for family to try to stop a care home entry because they want their grubby hands on the cash. Which is probably why the stepson wants him out.

I may have missed something

I’m not focusing on the DoL either

In terms of protecting his privacy, I’m not really following that. If the world had been told that he was in a care home and very unwell, who would have bothered him?

I thought it was the complete lack of information for friends and family that was the prompt for the investigation.

I had to ask people not to go and see my dad in his final months. I don’t know maybe we were lucky, but it wasn’t that complicated.

I know my dad wasn’t famous, but who was going to bother Ranulph in this situation?

and I don’t understand your point about other people volunteering to look after him. No one is objecting to the fact that he’s in a care home. What is the relevance of what you’re saying?

i don’t think anyone is saying he ought not be in a home! Of course he should, if this is the safest place for him. Why keep moving him? Why not let him be given prescribed medication? Why not let his friends and family visit him? If this was his wish, how come this wasn’t communicated to them? The accounts of his delight when Joseph Fiennes visited seem genuine.

@realdeal7393 none of what you're saying begins to explain why the owner of a home he was in was sufficiently concerned to report to the OPG, why there isn't seemingly a proper Dols in place according to the authorities themselves, why he's being moved around under false names and why his friends and family, including apparently the King, are being prevented from knowing his whereabouts, let alone communicating with him.

Happened to us 🤷‍♀️

not in a care home, because that would have cost money.

but relative got an LPA for their dad, who was physically frail but competent although forgetful.

then sold his house, then bullied him and moved him into their own house (which wasn’t suitable for his physical needs). He felt he had no choice as he couldn’t access help, go to the bank without support etc. He stated what he wanted was to stay in his own home with support, but relative refused social services and nhs/private help “because they were useless”, and also because the relative “couldn’t afford it” on a 50k private pension…

refused any help, and stopped contact with family. Took their phone away, and their bank cards.

eventually family took him out “for the day” and refused to return him. Social services, OPG and police all involved as hundreds of thousands of pounds had been transferred and relative had no money in their account.

the relative still swears they were only “looking after their dad” and feels no remorse whatsoever. Both OPG and SS have conditions that this person can’t visit their dad unsupervised any more.

I believe it was a care home that initiated the investigation? And Alex (stepson) is estranged from the family, I doubt any inheritance was coming his way?

I used my LPA to move my mother, who had dementia, to a care home, so obviously I have absolutely no problem with a relative being moved to a care home when it is necessary.

But I don't think some posters have actually read the story. The wife registered him in a false name and also refused to allow the care home to apply for a DoLS. This led to one of the care homes raising a serious concern with both the police and the Care Inspectorate. The latter say he is being detained unlawfully. This is not about friends or distant family making random complaints. This is about his wife misusing her LPA.

In this article from 2006, her ex husband alleges 'Millington was so controlling she alienated all his friends and built up an immense amount of debt under a variety of names.'

https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2006/07/23/Report-Explorers-wife-brings-trouble/81841153690431/

Actually you can use an LPA at any point.

if the person has capacity they just need to give permission for it to be lodged- it’s supposed to help adults who maybe can’t do internet banking etc or struggle withe day to day shopping etc to have someone who can act in loco. Or who maybe in care home due to physical frailty but still be competent- to sort bills etc. They don’t need to have lost capacity- that was the old EPA

in our case though it was lodged without permission- it appears that you can present the LPA at the bank etc and no one actually checks to see if the donor has either given permission, or if not, lost capacity.

i raised this with the bank and the ombudsman as it’s a massive weakness in the LPA system. Technically I suppose you should trust your attorney but it’s not difficult in many cases to get an elderly relative to sign documents. It also turns out that the witness is only a witness to the signature, they don’t have a responsibility to check the donor understands the LPA.

it’s very easy to do if you have bad motives.

@catofglory “But I don't think some posters have actually read the story”

That’s the only explanation, I guess.

Why would somebody comment if they haven’t read the fricking story? Annoying.

@Cileymyrus ”in our case though it was lodged without permission- it appears that you can present the LPA at the bank etc and no one actually checks to see if the donor has either given permission, or if not, lost capacity”

Friends of mine are in the exact opposite situation. The son is trying to use his mum’s power of attorney at the bank. He was met with nothing but obstacles, including the question “ if your mum has capacity, why isn’t she doing her own banking?” so she actually went into the physical bank, when it was still there, and said that she wanted her son to be doing her banking. And then they said “ why can’t you do it?” Truth be told she can, but she’s trying to pass stuff onto to him in an organised way. She’s also trying to cope with moving into a flat because she’s downsizing from the house. Basically, she’s trying to prepare for old age, aged 80, in a way that many people would say is very responsible - and getting nothing but grief.

I mean, it’s well documented on here but a lot of banks just seem to have no idea what to do with power of attorney.

He’s not estranged from Ranulph apparently

but he is not objecting to his stepfather being in a care home, whatever that poster seems to think. He’s objecting to how he’s being treated by his wife under the LPA.