"Dementia Crisis with my dad"

Between December 2022 and April 2023 my dad’s behaviour got suddenly significantly worse - he had been living with mixed type moderate dementia for 6 years. We didn’t know at the time that he was having episodes of delirium.

It all came to a head in April when he left his house and walked to see his mother at her old home a mile away - she has been dead for almost 50 years. A lot of bad things could have happened to him that day and his doctor referred us to the Forth Valley Dementia Crisis Outreach Team.

They were absolute lifesavers. They listened, listened some more, told us their opinions clearly based on years of lived experience, and helped us make sense of this new state of dad’s dementia. Everything they said helped us feel supported and that there was a way to keep him safe. We could pick up the phone for a chat, they even came and showered him one day when he had a skin infection. They reviewed his medication and prescribed a new drug to regulate his sleep.

This level of support and understanding made us realise that it needed a bigger team than just our family to support dad and it put us on the path to finding him residential care where he is now settled and thriving. And most importantly, safe.

The Dementia Crisis Outreach Team were a light for us in a very dark place.