Keith

Keith’s father, who was in his early 90s and diagnosed with vascular dementia, was cared for by Keith, his only son. He was the administrator for his father’s finances and made shared decisions about his health. Keith’s father was cared for at home with paid carers during the lockdown and was hospitalised for a fall. Keith’s father was transferred to a local care home and received care until his death in 2022.

Keith had a difficult relationship with his parents throughout his life. He was subjected to criticism by his parents which strained his relationship with them. Keith’s mother passed away in 2015 and Keith’s father needed care while living at home. Keith thought his relationship with his father gradually improved and they became close while supporting his father’s care.

Keith organised paid carers to care for his father during the Covid pandemic and lockdown periods. Keith managed his father’s finances to arrange and pay for home care over two years. Initially, carers were needed once a day and over time, the visits increased to twice and occasionally three times a day. Keith’s father was mobile and used a Zimmer Frame for support while walking. Keith received support from his local carer’s group and he also introduced his father to their local charity group. Keith recommends that carers’ support groups should continue to support carers, even after the death of the loved one.

Keith describes his experience of residential care visits during Covid-19

Age at interview 65

Gender Male

Well, he… he was in the hospital for about four weeks, or maybe more, so he went into the care home September or October 2021. I probably only saw him up to five times while he was there because of being restricted and the care home itself having lockdowns, so people couldn’t go, so it was usually… when you visit you have to make a booking ahead, which was about the week ahead, or even two weeks ahead, so I couldn’t see him much.

And when you actually saw him, were you able to be face-to-face with him or…?

Yes, we had to put all the gear on. The first meeting was I think with some council… or some… somebody representing the council, but independent of the council, to get an independent view of my father, even though I was there. But I was very unhappy with the care home when I saw my father because he was inadequately dressed, didn’t have his hearing aids, didn’t… and hence didn’t have any new batteries in his hearing aids. He was dressed in other people’s clothes, and inadequately, and it was… it was cool, and he didn’t have enough clothing on, and he had no socks, even though I’d taken the clothing along that he would likely need, although he… he did need some more, but they were not… the care home were not informing me of what he needed, so I thought some of these things are OK and but… but they were not. Yeah, so I was quite unhappy with the support that the care home were giving him.

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Keith describes his concerns about the quality of residential care for his father during the Covid-19 pandemic

Age at interview 65

Gender Male

Yes, we had to put all the gear on. The first meeting was I think with some council… or some… somebody representing the council, but independent of the council, to get an independent view of my father, even though I was there. But I was very unhappy with the care home when I saw my father because he was inadequately dressed, didn’t have his hearing aids, didn’t… and hence didn’t have any new batteries in his hearing aids. He was dressed in other people’s clothes, and inadequately, and it was… it was cool, and he didn’t have enough clothing on, and he had no socks, even though I’d taken the clothing along that he would likely need, although he… he did need some more, but they were not… the care home were not informing me of what he needed, so I thought some of these things are OK and but… but they were not. Yeah, so I was quite unhappy with the support that the care home were giving him.

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Keith talks about his father’s hearing aids and hospitalisation

Age at interview 65

Gender Male

I was phoning them and telling them about his hearing aids, and I said, “You need to change the batteries in his hearing aids, because then he could communicate with you, because, one he can hear you and his dementia is only half as bad when he’s got his hearing aids in with the batteries,”

but when the one and only time I was able to visit, I got there and the hearing aid batteries were absolutely flat, and I unfortunately had forgotten to take any batteries with me, so I had trouble communicating with him when I was there. So I was a bit unhappy with the hospital for… not doing that, because it would have helped him tremendously, and—

I felt that he was… well, I wasn’t there of course, but you kind of feel that he was being neglected, and not given the full support that he… needed, and he must have been bored out of his mind lying in this hospital bed not being able to hear things, it must have been terrible for him.

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