Inadequate care staff of Alzheimer’s father made life ‘living hell’, says daughter

An Alzheimer’s disease sufferer’s last year alive was living hell due to inadequate training for care staff, his daughter has said.

Linda Jackson, 63, said she struggled to get good quality homecare for her father Ken Richard before he died in 2014 aged 87.

She said her father, a dock worker from Southampton, was seen as a nuisance and some carers refused to come back to care for him.

Many carers “simply didn’t know how to cope”, she added.

Ms Jackson (pictured), a retiree from Orpington in Kent, said her father, who died when he was 87, eventually reached “crisis point” and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

She said: “Dad was challenging at times and I was told that some carers refused to come back and care for him.

“They simply didn’t know how to cope with his behaviour.

“He was distressed and worried, yet no one seemed equipped to look after him and give him the basic things he needed – food, medication, and comfort.

“Without a homecare worker with adequate training, Dad struggled to make sense of his life.

“He needed someone who understood him and the way he was acting – to speak to him and calm him down. Often I felt like my dad was seen as a nuisance.

“I was frequently phoned to be told he had been rude to carers, wouldn’t take his medication, and refused to let them in – but we were offered no solution.

“Dad’s last year was a living hell and he was eventually sectioned under the Mental Health Act before dying six weeks later.

“No one’s life should be this way – homecare workers need training to help prevent people like my dad reaching crisis point”.

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