Hi there,
My dad is in a nursing home. He has moderate to severe dementia and is in a dementia wing at a nursing home. He’s only been there for about a month. My mum is paying the daily rate at the moment because their house hasn’t sold and she can’t afford to pay more.
He has recently become quite aggressive towards the staff and on the weekend he threw a pot plant at a window and broke the glass. This behaviour is all new to us as it’s so different to what he has been like all his life. It’s a horrible disease!
Anyway, I’ve been reading the contract with the nursing home and they can ask you to leave if you are a problem for the other residents and staff and if you intentionally damage property.If they ask him to leave, where could he go? Would it just be a facility for mentally handicapped elderly for the rest of his life? Under no circumstance can he go home, my mum has rheumatoid arthritis and can no longer look after him.
They haven’t asked him to go and there is a good chance they won’t ask him to go but in case they do, I would like to have an idea of what we are in for.
Thanks
Mandie
Hi,
My mother was in a home in Ryde for several months in a dementia aged care facility. Unfortunately, mum had a bit of an episode and needed to be sent to hospital for suspected urinary tract infection which was causing her aggression. Shortly after mum was admitted in hospital we received an email from the aged care faciltiy terminating her stay - see below am writing to you to advise that I have made a decision not to accept your mother back at New Horizons from her hospital admission. The reason for this decision is based on the fact that we cannot provide Pina with constant 1 to 1 nursing as has been provided to her whilst in North Shore Hospital and previously within the Aged Care Facility. We have sought to control Pinas actions by closely monitoring behaviours and assessing for anything which may trigger these incidents where she harms others, we have performed many physical and pathology tests to try to eliminate pain or infection as a trigger for her agitation. Had a consulting Geriatrician, Dr XXXX from RNSH who visited her here, there appears to be no specific triggers and therefore the unpredictability of her actions places not only staff and residents at risk but also her , particularly when other residents seek to retaliate as we saw last week. As you are aware , Pinas actions have harmed residents and staff at this facility, occasioning a reportable incident to the NSW Police and Department of Health, as is required by the Aged Care Act 1997.She has harmed 2 more residents , and several staff including myself since this occasion. We understand that she does not mean to hurt people but we have an obligation to protect both residents and staff. I have spoken to the Doctors at RNSH to confirm that they have found no Physical or Pathological explanations for Pinas distress, they have also confirmed that she has had a nurse specialling her for her entire stay. As we are unable to provide this service at New Horizons I am terminating Pinas rest. Royal North Shore Geriatricians and Social Workers, who are looking after Pinas case have been informed of this decision by New Horizons today. The Social Worker, Mark Brown , will contact you tomorrow to help to find more suitable accommodation for Pina. I apologise, as I do understand the very difficult situation that this presents to you and your mother and I hope you understand that New Horizons is seeking the best outcome for Pinas wellbeing by taking this action. My brother and i had been given no prior knowledge of the incidences they are referring to except for the one they had called police where mum pulled on someone arms (thinking it was the chair for keeping her balance) unfortunately this did injure another patient but clearly caught on camera that this was by no means intentional. As you can imagine this was very stressful for my brother and I as we didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. It took close to 6 weeks to find another facility that would accommodate her and isn’t where my brother and I live but we had no choice but to take it. She has been there since (over 5 months now) and now the previous aged care facility is chasing us for non payment of 2 or 3 weeks of care before they kicked her out. Can someone please let me know if there is something I can do or do I have to pay this amount. I really dont want to give them another dime. Regards
Thank you. He was sent to hospital for assessment. I think they have put him on some strong antipsychotic drugs. Looks like he can go back to the nursing home soon but we’ll see how he goes from there.
Hi Mandie,
Thanks for taking the time to ask about this. Youre right, severe dementia is a difficult disease for all involved. It is good that your father is in a dementia specific wing. If he is expressing violent or aggressive behaviour, then it does need to be addressed as it becomes a safety concern for care staff and other residents. There are a few things that can happen before he would need to move anywhere.
In similar situations, usually the first thing that would happen is that your fathers doctor is contacted again and given an update regarding violent or aggressive behaviour. His doctor may reassess him and may even consult a Psychogeriatrician. They may decide to review what medication he is on. It may be that the medication needs to be altered not to sedate him but just to be more appropriate.
Its not always about medication though. It may be that he is bored. Is it something that Diversional Therahat can keep him more interested and engaged? These are all things that would be considered by the nursing home.
They may ask for a meeting to address the best way of managing it. Typically this meeting would have the care workers, your fathers doctor or a Psychogeriatrician a Registered Nurse and his family.
In extreme cases residents may do a stint in a psychiatric ward to be stabilised, but this is only until they are well enough to return to the nursing home. It is unlikely that residents remain at the psychiatric ward.
We hope that this helps and know that this is a difficult journey.
The age