At what point do dementia patients need 24-hour care?

The decision to move a family member with dementia into a care home is not easy. Agetech World explores when it’s the right time.

Being a family member of someone with dementia, it may become difficult to decide at what point they need 24-hour care.

A person with dementia will need more care and support as their condition progresses but it can be hard to know when the time is right and who should make this decision. The main thing to think about is whether the dementia patient’s needs are met at home; is moving into a care home in their best interest?

However, moving the person into a care home is not the only option: there are other options that would enable them to live at home while being assisted. 

Here are some signs that may aid in deterring the right time for 24-hour care:

Aggressive behaviours 

Aggressive behaviours should not be taken personally when it comes to dementia patients. This kind of behaviour is the response of the patient to the false signals generated in their brain or sometimes simply an attempt to communicate.

Aggressive behaviours can be one of the first signs for full-time care as it can become difficult for a singular carer or family member to control these behaviours on their own.

Patient’s safety

With dementia, judgement and memory become poor and the person becomes easily exposed to domestic accidents. To prevent this, patients start needing constant monitoring and 24-hour care becomes integral for home safety to such an extent that a person cannot even identify common hazards.

Caregiver stress 

Alzheimer’s caregivers frequently report experiencing high levels of stress as it can be overwhelming to take care of a loved one with Alzheimer’s or other dementia.

It is not unusual that a dementia caregiver forgets to set boundaries, creates unrealistic and impractical expectations, and ends up burnt out. In addition to this, the overwhelming needs of the loved ones can make the caregiver frustrated and stressed.

The main symptoms of caregiver stress are denial, anger, social withdrawal, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, sleeplessness, irritability, lack of concentration and health problems.

Mobility issues

Dementia patients tend to be more mobile than in many other medical conditions. The effects of dementia can cause wandering which is defined as a clinical symptom characterised by frequent, repetitive, temporally confused behaviour manifesting as random.

But, dementia is likely to have a big physical impact on the person in the later stages of the condition. They may gradually lose their ability to walk, stand or get themselves up from chair or bed. They may also be more likely to fall.

Therefore, deciding when 24-hour care is needed is not an easy task and it differs from patient to patient. The decision must be made as a consequence of the advancing symptoms of the condition, keeping in mind the best interests of the patient, of the carer and of the family.