Jumat, 18 Mei 2012

Dementia patient had 106 carers in a single year, reveals widow

Dementia patient had 106 carers in a single year, reveals widow

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 06:08 EST, 18 May 2012 | UPDATED: 09:05 EST, 18 May 2012

A widow has accused social workers of treating her husband without dignity after the dementia patient was seen by 106 different home carers in the year before he died.

Kenneth Maitland lived with his wife in Aberdeen and was seen by two carers four times a day before his recent admission to hospital.

Jeanette Maitland said she was given the impression her husband's care would be provided by a core group of 10 people, as patients with dementia find new faces and voices unsettling.

Kenneth Maitland (front row right) with wife Jeanette (centre). Mrs Maitland said her husband was unsettled by having so many carers

Kenneth Maitland (front row right) with wife Jeanette (centre). Mrs Maitland said her husband was unsettled by having so many carers

Kenneth Maitland with daughter Karen Ann jeanette maitland

Kenneth Maitland with daughter Karen Ann and (right) Jeanette Maitland who believes her husband was stripped of his dignity

However, when she began writing down the names of the carers so she could get to know them, she was shocked when the list just kept getting longer.

'Each time a new face came so I kept writing, writing, writing, until we're here where we are today with 106 carers,' she told BBC Radio Scotland.

Mrs Maitland said her husband had always been an intensely private man and would have been horrified if he had realised how many different people helped with his bathing and personal care.

She asked: 'Where is respect for his dignity? I feel I should have sold tickets.'

She said while she had no complaints about the standard of care she believed the number of carers had been inappropriate.

'Anyone who knows anything at all about dementia will know that they live in fear 87% of the time,' she said.

'Obviously the more regular the voice, the more regular the regime, the constancy of it all helps them to relax and be calm.'

Marischal College, which is the home of Aberdeen City Council. A spokeswoman said they were looking into Mrs Maitland's concerns

Marischal College, which is the home of Aberdeen City Council. A spokeswoman said they were looking into Mrs Maitland's concerns

George McNamara, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Alzheimer's Society, told Mail Online: 'Being cared for by a large number of carers can be very confusing for people with dementia. Continuity and a regular routine helps people with dementia feel calm and relaxed.

'It’s also difficult for care workers to provide good quality care if they aren’t given the time to understand the person’s needs. Home care should be commissioned and provided in a way that promotes inde pendence and enables people to maintain a good quality of life.’

Aberdeen City Council chief executive Valerie Watts extended her condolence to Mrs Maitland and her family following Mr Maitland's death last week.

She said she had met with Mrs Maitland to discuss the care package her husband had received.

'I gave Mrs Maitland a personal assurance I would look into the concerns she raised and respond at the earliest opportunity,' she said.

There are currently 800,000 people with dementia in the UK and this is expected to rise to over a million people by 2021. Two thirds of people with dementia live in the community while a third live in a care home. The condition will cost the UK more than £23billion this year.

She added that council staff worked hard to deliver the best possible care package at all times.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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-Jo Wiltshire 18/05/12 1440 - You are absolutely right, my mother has this terrible disease and we had the same problem a different person twice a day you have to explain everything, everytime its someone new, its exhausting for the carer rather then a help and unsettling for the person dealing with strangers, when they are gone you are left with the aftermath of settling, reassuring and trying to re-establish calm. Most of the time it was slap dash and inadaquate. Many of them smelled of cigarettes or were overweight struggled. I manage myself now with help from family friends were possible.

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Addendum :Stipped of his dignity....yes...yes....the minute you pawned him off to others to be cared for. Red arrow me.... but you know nothing is truer than this. And look up the meaning of the word guilt while you are at it.

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"'I gave Mrs Maitland a personal assurance I would look into the concerns she raised and respond at the earliest opportunity,' she said........and you can start by trying to understand what "Consistency" means in terms when described in the teachings of Health Social Care also what "building and maintaining positive realationships means" ...also examine your own and your social care staffs "attitudes and values" while you are at it love....and stop treating people with apathy and indiference, if you are not to sure what all that means ask your head of social services who i would have thought completed a Uni degree course that covered those very important social care meanings....

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I wouldn't want to be naked in front of 20 + different people a week. - julie, Somerset, 18/5/2012 14:15========You really think that bothers him?????

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I'm sure it wasn't a problem for him, but evidently bothers her. Lucky he actually got any care. These demanding attitudes from next of kin are seeping onto our hospital wards and making the job harder.

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My Mother has Alztheimers and she has had 11 different carers in 1 month and this is with a private company - I dread to think how many would appear if it was done through the local council !! It is a truly shameful situation for these Dementia sufferers. As was said in the original article, consistency is a key issue.

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At least he is getting care.

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I think being in the EU supports a desk-jockey culture. I doubt the paperwork has been thought up by UK doctors, for example.

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Leopold Bloom, Dublin, 18/5/2012 13:59 - What difference does it make? Not like it's going to bother him. ================================================================ Your facile contribution just highlights your ignorance of the condition. Maybe you'll feel differently when someone close to you develops dementia.

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There are a couple of totally uneducated comments on here. Some people obviously they have no understanding of this disease and should therefore not comment!!

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