Person with dementia had 107 different carers in just five years

A leading academic has revealed how his frail mother has been visited by 107 different carers in the five years that she has been diagnosed with dementia.

Dr Simon Harding said in one week alone his 87-year-old mother Anna was visited by 14 different people.

And CCTV installed by Dr Harding in his mother’s home revealed that many carers failed to stay for the 30 minutes they were contracted to. Some visits lasted as little as two minutes.

The staggering number of carers visiting Mrs Harding came to light after her son, a senior lecturer in criminology at Middlesex University, put in a Freedom of Information request to the local council.

Last night Dementia UK said the Harding family’s experience was not uncommon because of the rapid turnover of staff at care agencies – the result of low pay levels.

Chief executive Hilda Hayo said she was aware of one elderly dementia sufferer who had 45 different carers in a year.

Dr Harding said he was shocked by the high number of carers visiting his widowed mother – a military dispatch courier during the Second World War – who lives alone in a village in Perthshire.

‘The whole family were appalled and angry when they found out there had been 107 carers,’ he said. ‘It’s outrageous and we know this is happening to many families.

‘This is the generation that fought the war and we’re not giving them the respect and dignity they deserve. I would warn other families to monitor their elderly relatives’ care very closely.’

Dr Harding, a regular television commentator on crime, said he first became concerned last year.

‘We had a family conference and realised we were all seeing different faces every time the carers came to visit my mother,’ he said.

Dr Harding also noticed his once ‘chirpy’ mother, who has vascular dementia, was becoming considerably more tired and withdrawn.

But he said that when he asked Perth and Kinross Council to list how many different carers had visited, he was ‘fobbed off’ with ‘wishy-washy responses’.

After four months of not getting satisfactory answers from the local authority, he and his two sisters decided to resort to an FoI request.

It was then that the true numbers were revealed – made up of carers employed by the local authority and those provided by a private agency contracted by the council.

Dr Harding is convinced the situation has caused his mother’s condition to deteriorate.

‘When you have multiple carers like this it is confusing for ordinary people, never mind people who have vascular dementia,’ he said.

A spokeswoman for Perth and Kinross Council said: ‘We would always look to provide consistency of carer wherever possible. Sometimes this can prove difficult owing to factors such as distance, timing of visits, or a change in the way in which a service is provided.

‘While our primary focus will always be upon ensuring that carers arrive at the appointed time, we always stress the importance of providing a regular carer or group of carers as soon as practicable once a care package is in place.’

Source Mail Online