by
Sajehar » Mon Sep 30, 2013 3:30 pm
Hi mumangela
Paper forms are available, ring 0845 712 3456 for tha AA team, based in Preston for England.
I'd advising ringing them ASAP, they will send you a form with the date you rang up on. You have a month or something from which to send form back.
NEVER try to fill these forms in yourself. I got mum's occupational therapist to help me; he very kindly spent two hours in his free time helping me. Or go to Age UK as already suggested.
I had exactly the same problem as you. Mum's very proud and will not even admit to her problems, nor was she even capable of properly understanding the form, let alone filling it in. I do not have power of attorney, hence getting the OT's help. He filled in most of it for me.
The biggest mistake people make when filling in these forms is describing a standard day/night rather than a worst case scenario, as carer's tend to downplay stuff themselves simply because the caree has a carer. He told me to imagine what would mum be like if she was living on her own with no one to look after her.
I thought of all the times I'd prevented her from falling; she'd have broken her hips, or neck, by now if I hadn't been there to catch her, etc.
Her appetite was non-existent when she left hospital. I devised all sorts of tricks to get her to slowly but surely increase her appetite; she'd have starved to death otherwise, and I'm not exaggerating.
You get the general idea. This 'pretend' exercise is something I'd never done before. We too can get into our heads the caree is doing better than they actually are, simply because we're there to prevent it happening in the first place; and inadvertently fill our forms in accordingly.
This is why you must get professional help filling it in.
Finally, spend a few bob on photocopying completed form for your own records. And go to post office to send it back, don't just shove it in a letterbox.And ask for a Certificate of Posting at post office. This is free, and is your proof of sending it off. Better still, pay 95p for recorded delivery. I did. It took about 3 weeks to get approval, and it was back-dated to when mum left hospital.
I hope the above is of use to you.
Good luck. x
