17 Lasting Powers of Attorney and Dementia, etc [Update 2 - 20/11/13]

This Post identifies documents where an individual has expressed wishes about a) medical treatment, c) preferred final place for care, d) welfare, e) finance, f) property, e) provision for family members and others following death.

An individual with early onset dementia might need to consider having:

•  a Will
• two kinds of Lasting Powers of Attorney these might cover 1) finance and property and  2) clinical and welfare, including long term care
• an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment. 

All the above mentioned will be need to be made whilst the person with dementia has mental capacity to make decisions. They will be important for the patient's GP, hospital doctors and nurses, care home staff and other professionals wishing to take cognisance of the patient's wishes, eg a)  for their treatment, b) where they want to be, and c) their care. You may like to note that, of course, the documents are formal and have nuances of law which affect the way they come into effect.

As an illustration, Swale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in Kent is developing an integrated end of life health and care pathway for those who have a few months to live, say upto 12 months. For those with dementia the period may be longer. The CCG's approach is to provide all professional's in the integrated care pathway to have on-line access to:

• the patient's wishes as expressed in the legal documents, namely, the lastings power of attorney concerning health and care
• the planned pathway for integrated care 
• the ongoing clinical and care records as kept by the professionals on a daily basis.

It is conceivable that where a person living with dementia wishes to remain at home, this will be more readily acheived.

Related posts include: Post 12