When Do Dementia Patients Need 24 Hour Care? | Home Care In Hale

Advice and things to consider when deciding whether to move a person living with dementia into 24-hour care.

Recognising the signs for 24-hour care

If you are a family member or caregiver, you may be required to make that difficult decision as to whether or not your loved one, who is living with dementia, needs to be administered continuous 24-hour care. If you are struggling to deliver safe care at home, our easy to follow guide seeks to answer your burning questions about professional home care and aims to alleviate the pressures that come from this stressful decision-making stage

It can be hard to know when the time is right for a person with dementia to obtain 24-hour care. This article is aimed at caregivers, friends and family of a person with Dementia. This fact sheet provides crucial information and explains what might need to happen when you identify the level of care being delivered needs to be expanded. This article also discusses some of the feelings you may be experiencing as a caregiver and how 24-hour home care may be the answer to a growing issue.

6 Signs that it’s time for 24 Care

According to dementiastatistics.org, 63.5% of caregivers who look after a loved one with dementia feel like they have little to no support.  Sometimes caregivers find themselves unable to bear the burden of providing home health care without suffering from illness themselves. This is when the emotional and physical cost of care-giving becomes too high and is an indicator that it is time to consider professional care services such as 24-hour care.

24-hour care: When is it the right time

Here are some tell-tale signs to look out for that will help you recognise when it’s the right time for assisted living.

These signs include:

1. Your loved one is displaying aggressive behaviour – Physical or violent aggression frequently happen in people with dementia, and caregivers or other family members may begin to feel resentful or stressed.
2. Caregiver stress – Caregiver symptoms such as increased stress can be just as telling a sign as the dementia behaviours described above.
3. Home safety – Consider your loved one’s health and your ability to care for them. Is the person with dementia safe when you’re not around to care for them? Has your loved one experienced falls, trips and overall accidents around the home when you’re not around? This is a clear sign that you are in need of some additional assistance at home.
4. Escalating care needs – Ask yourself: “Are the person’s needs beyond my physical abilities?” or “Is the health of the person with dementia or my health as a carer at risk?” If the answer to these questions is yes, it might be time to have that tough family conversation.
5. Wandering – In the later stages of dementia, the risk associated with wandering becomes much greater. Your loved one may wander even if you take small breaks such as going to the bathroom. The probability of falls and injuries increases as well.
6. Sundowning – Sometimes a person with dementia will behave in ways that is difficult to understand. Irrational behaviour often occurs in the late afternoon or early evening. This is referred to as ‘Sundowning’. Sundowning behaviour can be a heavy toll on caregivers as it begins to severely disrupt your normal daily routine. This may be a sign that the caregiving burden is too difficult to manage.