Care Planning - Dementia
Updated onMartina Feichter studied biology with an elective subject pharmacy in Innsbruck and also immersed herself in the world of medicinal plants. From there it was not far to other medical topics that still captivate her to this day. She trained as a journalist at the Axel Springer Academy in Hamburg and has been working for since 2007 - first as an editor and since 2012 as a freelance writer.
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Patients and relatives should start planning care for dementia at an early stage. Can and will the dementia patient stay in his own apartment? Does he need help in everyday life, and if so, how much? Who can provide this support? Is it necessary to be placed in a nursing home or in an alternative form of living? Read everything you need to know about care planning for dementia here!
ICD codes for this disease: ICD codes are internationally recognized codes for medical diagnoses. They can be found, for example, in doctor's letters or on certificates of incapacity for work. F03F02F01G31F00G30
As early as possible: care planning!
In the early and middle stages of the disease, dementia patients can usually cope with everyday life on their own, sometimes with a little help from relatives. Many can still live in their own apartment. Sooner or later, however, more help will be needed in everyday life. Therefore, people with dementia and their relatives should inform themselves as early as possible about what help is available and what housing options are possible if the patient is no longer able to live independently.
Dementia: care at home
Around two out of three people with dementia currently live within their own four walls. For older people in particular, the home is usually the center of life. The familiar environment awakens memories and offers security and security - factors that are particularly important in dementia. Therefore, many dementia patients want to stay in their own home for as long as possible.
This is usually not a problem in the early stages of dementia. The patients often cope with everyday life alone. They only need help from relatives for activities that require a lot of concentration (correspondence with authorities, going to the bank, etc.).
Relatives or good neighbors should also check that everything is okay several times a day if someone with dementia lives alone. You should also make sure that the patient is eating well, balanced and drinking enough. It may be useful to organize “meals on wheels” for the dementia patient.
Care planning for dementia also includes making sure that the patient's apartment is designed in a dementia-friendly manner. This includes, for example:
- large symbols on the doors in the apartment, which signal the use of the respective room (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc.)
- see-through wardrobe doors (make it easier to find the items of clothing you want, such as underwear or a coat)
- Converting the cooker so that it switches itself off after a certain period of time (prevention of fires and injuries)
- Light elements in the floor (prevention of falls)
- safe containment of cleaning agents (reduces the risk of confusion and poisoning)
- Removal of hooks and keys that could be used to lock the bathroom door from the inside
The task of caring for a person with dementia requires a great deal of commitment and patience from relatives - and increasingly the more the disease progresses. The family should therefore consider how much support they can provide and when external help (e.g. through outpatient care services) is necessary. The attending physician helps relatives to make this assessment.
Ambulant care
Relatives who care for a person with dementia are entitled to professional support from an outpatient care service. The specialists help patients, for example, with getting up, washing and using the toilet.
The prerequisite for this statutory right to an outpatient care service is that the patient has been classified as in need of care and the care service is recognized by the care fund. Relatives should find out about the various care services that are available before deciding which one to choose. Advice is also provided by self-help groups and the German Alzheimer Society e.V. Self-Help Dementia.
24-hour care
If the support of outpatient nurses is insufficient, but the dementia patient still wants to stay in his own home, 24-hour care can be useful. Sometimes local care services offer such all-round care. The monthly costs for this amount to several thousand euros.
Many people with dementia are also cared for by nurses from Eastern Europe. Relatives should absolutely observe the legal framework and employ the caregiver legally. Undeclared work is a criminal offense and can result in heavy fines and back payments of social security contributions.
Care groups for people with dementia
In many places, group care is offered for dementia patients. The participants meet regularly, for example to eat, sing, do handicrafts or play together. The groups are mostly looked after by volunteers. Participation in a care group usually only costs a small amount (e.g. for food and drinks).
day care
As part of day care, dementia patients spend one or more days a week together in a day care facility. Such facilities specialize in the physical and mental care of people with dementia. The patients can, for example, cook, paint, do handicrafts together or - if available - work in the garden. Good facilities ensure that all activities are supervised to prevent accidents.
Day care costs can range from 45 to 90 euros per day. The long-term care insurance contributes to this amount up to a certain amount - depending on the patient's degree of care. The rest of the costs have to be paid by the patients and their relatives. If necessary, however, the social welfare office also contributes something.
Short-term care and preventive care
For example, if family caregivers fall ill or need vacation, people with dementia who are otherwise cared for at home can be temporarily accommodated in short-term care facilities.
Alternatively, in such cases there is the option of preventive care (substitute care): The dementia patient is then temporarily cared for at home by a professional care service. The long-term care insurance pays the costs for short-term or preventive care up to a certain amount.
Assisted living
Assisted living can be a suitable form of living for the elderly: Here the seniors live in their own senior-friendly apartments in a house or a complex of houses. However, they can share meals as well as housekeeping services (such as laundry service) and care as required or required.
Assisted living offers are also suitable for dementia patients under certain conditions, namely if they also offer dementia-friendly services. Patients and relatives should find out about this in advance.
Advanced dementia: nursing home
If relatives can no longer provide all-round care for a dementia patient and 24-hour care cannot be financed, accommodation in a nursing home or in alternative forms of living (such as dementia flat shares) is an option.
When choosing a home, relatives should inform themselves carefully and compare the offers critically. In addition to conventional nursing homes, there are also those with special living and care facilities for dementia patients in many places. Such house communities, residential groups or care oases are tailored to the special needs of people with dementia and usually have 12 to 20 members. However, these special offers are not cheap.
Dementia residential communities with outpatient care
In some cases, an alternative to a nursing home can be a dementia shared flat. Several dementia patients live there together in a large apartment. Each patient has their own room and can usually bring their own furniture and furnishings.
Other rooms such as the kitchen, living room and bathrooms are shared. The dementia sufferers are cared for by professional nurses.
There are now more and more offers for such dementia shared apartments across Germany.
The maintenance costs
Caring for dementia patients is not cheap, especially when the patient is in need of comprehensive assistance and care. In many cases, long-term care insurance contributes to the costs. Whether and how much she pays depends on the need for care of the person suffering from dementia:
The medical service of the health insurance companies assesses the dementia patient (after submitting an application to the long-term care insurance) and assigns them a certain level of care. The higher this classification, the higher the contribution from the long-term care insurance to the care costs.
When it comes to planning care for dementia, relatives must consider the amount of this grant and their own financial resources. Because this usually influences the decision where and how a person with dementia should live and be cared for.
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