care home
What is DoLS, what are its challenges and how is it due to change?
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It exists to protect people who cannot make certain decisions for themselves – often because of dementia, learning disabilities, or brain injury – and who need to be kept safe in a care home or hospital. If a person is under […]
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CCTV in care home bedrooms in the UK – yes or no?
Moving to a care home can be a positive choice for those who are struggling to live independently at home. It can throw up worries for family and friends though. We are trusting an unknown organisation and its unfamiliar employees to care for our relative with compassion and dignity. Sometimes concerns arise about whether our […]
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John’s Campaign: supporting family and friends to provide care in hospitals and other care settings
The dementia support group John’s Campaign has recently had to change its website and email addresses to overcome what we’ll call technical difficulties with its web server provider. That’s a real nuisance for the group, but a good opportunity to remind carers about the purpose and activities of this UK-based organisation. What is John’s Campaign? […]
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What do you do when a care home closes?
It’s a nightmare situation. Your parent is settled in a care home when it’s suddenly announced that the home will be closing. You need to find somewhere else for them to live and be cared for well, away from the people and routines that they know, and often pretty quickly. The University of Birmingham has […]
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What to take when you’re visiting a care or nursing home?
If you’re visiting a friend or family member who’s moved into a care or nursing home, you could be wondering what you can take with you to cheer their day. Everyone is different of course, so making general suggestions is a little tricky. Not only are tastes different, but individuals will be living different lives, […]
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Oral hygiene and caring for teeth in later years
Once upon a time on a visit to my bedridden dad at his care home, he asked if I would clean his teeth as the carers hadn’t had time to do so. Of course, said I, and gathered up a bowl and some water, his toothbrush and toothpaste and a towel, ready for some in-mouth […]
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What to say when they are never coming home
Sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to know what to do for the best. Dr Lesley Trenner offers advice to a reader who’s stuck between kindness and honesty when her mum asks when she can go home from nursing care. Dear Lesley, Gosh this is hard to start. Long story short. Mum caught Covid, went to hospital, […]
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We couldn’t have asked for a more caring nursing home
Reader story We’ve heard a great deal about difficulties visiting loved ones in care homes during the pandemic, and even before then it seems it’s as ever the bad experiences that makes the headlines. A long-time friend of When They Get Older recently had to find a nursing home fast for her mother, and she […]
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Care home visiting January 2022
With restrictions being eased in some situations but maintained in others, it’s difficult to get to the facts of how care home visiting is now being controlled as we enter 2022 in the UK. Here are the latest guidelines that can help. It’s worth revisiting them from time to time or whenever you are concerned […]
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Care home visiting Christmas 2021
After the many heartaches of Christmas 2020, families of relatives living in care homes will have been hoping for a more ‘normal’ approach to visiting this year. Sadly, with the incredibly rapid spread of the latest variant of Covid-19, care homes are taking action again to protect their residents. Reactions are varied amongst homes, with […]
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