How to send an Alzheimer's patient back to the U.K.? - From Bangkok

[scottiejohn]

42 minutes ago, superal said:

As he has been out of the UK for a long period , he may not be entitled to free NHS treatment ?

He will be treated initially with or without payment.

Once he has shown/they summarize that he will not be leaving the UK any time soon he will be registered with a local UK doctor!

[kingstonkid]

7 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

There may be a problem in Thailand if he needs hospital treatment and all his income/savings are being used to pay his residential home fees. In UK he would get treatment (at least in theory) irrespective of his ability to pay.

But where would he live, who is going to look after him?  If he needs care, then the best place for him is in a home or facility that can do so.  He would have better luck getting that here than he would in the UK after taking a flight and landing at Heathrow with little money and no one to look after him.

[scottiejohn]

2 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

But where would he live, who is going to look after him?  If he needs care, then the best place for him is in a home or facility that can do so.  He would have better luck getting that here than he would in the UK after taking a flight and landing at Heathrow with little money and no one to look after him.

There were a couple of threads last year about how UK citizens arriving in UK airports can declare themselves homeless and what help they received.

Someone may remember the details!

[rattlesnake]

On 2/14/2025 at 11:24 AM, Furioso said:

He's 83 years old. Lives alone. He has no relatives except for a niece 600KM from Heathrow. 

He's got Alzheimer's pretty bad and obviously deteriorating every day. 

He's got 3 or 4 friends they want to send him back to U.K. on a plane. Alone. 

I spoke up and said "someone has to escort him back to the U.K. Period. 

As far as I know they're all similar age retirees, they say they're too busy but it really looks to me like nobody wants to step up. I don't know the guy but I said I'd do it but they said no. They're trying to arrange everything for his solo flight to U.K. but I'm thinking someone needs to escort him back. 

Maybe I'm wrong? 

 

Air France has a free disability assistance service, but they do specify that they can't help to go to the toilet or eating onboard. It might be worth checking each airline's specific services in this respect.

 

https://wwws.airfrance.fr/en/information/passagers/acheter-billet-avion-pmr-autres-handicaps

[vinny41]

2 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

He will be treated initially with or without payment.

Once he has shown/they summarize that he will not be leaving the UK any time soon he will be registered with a local UK doctor!

Returning to the UK from abroad

Habitual Residence Test (‘HRT’)

Anyone who has been living outside the UK for a period of 3 months or more and who decides to return to the UK will be subject to this test. Irrespective of which services an individual or family require assistance from

Residency test is always applied and has to be passed prior to accessing services. This means that if a returnee is wishing to access public services, they will usually need to wait for a period of 3-4 months before being able to prove their intentions to remain in the UK. 

 The only way a returnee can bypass a HRT is if they are formally deported, expelled or removed by compulsion of law from overseas and returns with evidence to show this, i.e. deportation documents, letter from Prisoners Abroad, stamp in passport, letter from Embassy.

http://heathrowtravelcare.co.uk/what-we-do/returning-to-the-uk-from-abroad/

There is this thread from 2023

 

[vinny41]

On 2/17/2025 at 10:17 AM, superal said:

I escorted an English man back to the UK because of dementia .I had been helping him because he could not get money from the A.T.M. I spent an afternoon on the phone to his UK bank asking them to confirm his PIN number because he could not get any money . The bank were loathe to give any info but finally after much pleading by me , they said that the PIN was correct but there was no money in his account . He was being ripped off by his Thai lady . She was an aggressive woman who was against his return to the UK but when I told her he was going back to sell his house and then return to Thailand , she agreed  . A further complication was he had not renewed his retirement visa and was 1 year overdue . At Suvarnibhum  I had to explain his dementia and paid the 20,000 baht fine . I was in contact with his son who was unable to fly to Thailand because of business commitments . The son paid for the flights .  After arriving in the UK I kept in touch with his son who told me that the doctors believed he had been drugged over some time and was now in a better health .  

Care homes waiting times in the UK can be as much as 5 months and longer under social care .

Care home waiting times in the UK can be as long as 2 years Anyone that has assets over £22K has to pay for their care homes anyone with assets less than £22K the care home is funded by the local council although in many cases they might not have an availabilty in their area and people have been known to be sent hundred of miles away

Not sure how someone that has Alzheimer’s or dementia themselve could be accepted for a care home  as the decent care homes do have a strict  interview process before they will consider accepting someone, they normally required access to all medical records from medical staff that have been providing medication

Care Quality Commission in the UK doe carry out inspection reports and provide ratings for each home

I have witnessed where  good care homes will remove a person if they are disruptive in the care home as they know the room wouldn't be empty for very long

https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/find-care-home

 

[Furioso]

UPDATE: OK, the friends of the Alzheimer's gentleman have come to their senses, they asked me to take him back to the U.K. The niece will pick him up at Heathrow. He will initially live with her or stay in a serviced apartment. She lives closer to London than what I was originally told. He has not been officially diagnosed with anything but obviously he is impaired. More info to follow. 

[Sheryl]

28 minutes ago, Furioso said:

UPDATE: OK, the friends of the Alzheimer's gentleman have come to their senses, they asked me to take him back to the U.K. The niece will pick him up at Heathrow. He will initially live with her or stay in a serviced apartment. She lives closer to London than what I was originally told. He has not been officially diagnosed with anything but obviously he is impaired. More info to follow. 

Sounds lke a plan. 

 

Good on you for helping out. 

[vinny41]

2 hours ago, Furioso said:

UPDATE: OK, the friends of the Alzheimer's gentleman have come to their senses, they asked me to take him back to the U.K. The niece will pick him up at Heathrow. He will initially live with her or stay in a serviced apartment. She lives closer to London than what I was originally told. He has not been officially diagnosed with anything but obviously he is impaired. More info to follow. 

Good News

Now if he agrees he should make his niece lasting power of attorney for health and welfare and a seperate LPA for property and financial affairs its takes about 3 months from the date that the dcuments are submitted

The LPA can be completed by his niece the website has a step by step guide 

Cost is £82 per LPA so for 2 LPA cost is £164

Solictors and Banks offer this type of service but at a much higher cost a friend did it through a bank for his mother and the cost was £600 8 years ago

Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

With LPA the niece can represent her uncle in any transaction with the only exemption that LPA are not permitted to create or change wills for the person they represent so he should consider making a will if he hasn't done so before his mental health deteriorates further

[The Fugitive]

30 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

Good News

Now if he agrees he should make his niece lasting power of attorney for health and welfare and a seperate LPA for property and financial affairs its takes about 3 months from the date that the dcuments are submitted

The LPA can be completed by his niece the website has a step by step guide 

Cost is £82 per LPA so for 2 LPA cost is £164

Solictors and Banks offer this type of service but at a much higher cost a friend did it through a bank for his mother and the cost was £600 8 years ago

Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney

With LPA the niece can represent her uncle in any transaction with the only exemption that LPA are not permitted to create or change wills for the person they represent so he should consider making a will if he hasn't done so before his mental health deteriorates further

Superb info! Many thanks. Most helpful.

[3NUMBAS]

What happens when he arrives at Heathrow ?big problem ,you need to find a care home that will take him,and they are difficult to find ,as they’re all full of elderly sufferers and you need to wait possibly 6 months to get him in. My mum who had her own place to live had to wait 6months to find a care home ,and sort out the monthly payments for care ,she was there 2 years until she passed on

 

the monthly payments will be a problem 

[vinny41]

6 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

Superb info! Many thanks. Most helpful.

For anyone that goes down the LPA route please be aware that the Office of the Public Guardian that issues the LPA documents doesn't provide replacements

These LPA documents should be treated the same way as you would treat property deeds

The LPA documents that you received from the Office of the Public Guardian should have a perforated section at the end of the document

Solictors can provided certificated copies for a fee ( where they sign each page with their stamp to confirm that page is the same as original)

If anyone requires sight of the relevant LPA provide them with a  certificated copies which they will copy and return to you they wouldn't accept a non- certificated copies

There was a case in the UK a few years ago where someone didn't have any certificated copies when into the bank with the master perforated LPA for the bank to take a copy 

unfortunately the bank took a copy and then handed back the customer the copy and kept the perforated LPA for themselves which they manage to lose later in a office relocation

end result was LPA were null and void as no master copy and no certificated copy

 

[3NUMBAS]

You need to find care homes where he lives in U.K. ,some areas have lots some have none ,then the funds need to be there for years of care till he passes on,

some inmates live yrs others pass on quickly ,you can’t be sure