6 Carers attended the group with the other 2 regular carers providing notice they would be unable to attend this time.
The group started by briefly talking about Teepa Snow’s Gems model and how it can be helpful in recognising where someone is on their dementia journey. See here to read more about this and see Teepa’s video where she explains the Gems.
We talked about the power of music to make a connection with someone and as singing comes from a different bit of the brain to speech, people who struggle with conversation can usually sing well known songs.
The group were asked why it was felt necessary for 4 signatures including the power of attorney, to be required where a care home wanted to give medication covertly. It was explained as the person with dementia was under the care of the home, it was a legal requirement for them to do this even though the medication was essential and hiding it in food was in the best interest of the person with dementia.
A number of issues regarding care records were discussed:
- Carers with lasting power of attorney for health should be able to view hospital and care home records.
- Agency carers providing care in the home should ensure entries in their log sheets are factual ie recording the exact time of arrival and departure as these could be required for legal evidence should the need arise. Family members should review the log sheets from time to time so they can raise any queries if need be.
- Where care is being provided at home by family members, it is not a requirement for a detailed record of the care being provided to be kept. However, it would be good practice to keep a diary of things out of the ordinary eg. if someone wasn’t very hungry or seemed more confused than normal, as this information could be helpful when discussing concerns with health professionals and it would not always be known at the time if something might be relevant later on.
The challenges of keeping track of what is going on where family do not live locally and care is being provided. A carer said she had used the Jointly app provided by Carers UK which provides an online diary and a quick way of writing a message which all people included in the group can see. Read more about the app here.
We finished by discussing hospital admissions and John’s Campaign. You can read more about this in our blog for Dementia Awareness week.
The next Group meeting is on 12th June.
We look forward to seeing you next time.
Janet & Tatiana
Reflections 