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Case studies for family carers
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Postponed residential care for 2 years
Hannah Bailey was one of the first to try the Just Checking system when she and her family took part in a pilot with Warwickshire County Council. Hannah is 85, and has a formal diagnosis of vascular dementia. She lives in her own home with the support of the home care service and her daughter, Caroline, who lives 10 miles away. She is physically fit and active.
Home carers call three times a day to prompt meal preparation. Caroline spends each Wednesday with her mother, taking her out shopping and to the hairdresser. Caroline and her husband visit every Saturday to help with maintenance of the house and on Sundays they take Mrs Bailey back to their own home for the day.
All told Caroline carries a heavy caring role, on top of her own job and worries a lot about her mother, and in particular about her leaving the house to walk to the local shop and getting lost. This has happened a couple of times. The Just Checking system was installed to see how often Mrs Bailey was going out and for how long, and more generally to allow her daughter to check that there are no causes for concern.
The system showed that Mrs Bailey did go out occasionally but returned within 30 minutes, about the time it takes to walk to the shops and back.
The system also showed that Mrs Bailey went to bed at a regular time, slept soundly, and got herself up each morning. Caroline's brother, who lives in New Zealand also logs on. Caroline says she feels that her role is now more shared with her brother; they discuss what the system is showing when they talk on the phone each week.
Over time, Mrs Bailey’s condition gradually deteriorated and in October 2007, she moved to residential care, more than 2 years after the Just Checking system has been installed. Caroline and her brother had logged on to the system every day for 25 months, and were able to see when a higher level of care was needed. The decision to move Mrs Bailey was made by the family members, and care professionals who were supporting Mrs Bailey, with the help of the activity charts to guide them.
