My ageing mother in South Africa - where to start?

[Kit]

Hi there forum peeps! I'm looking for any advice/guidance... let me outline the scenario and ask my question/s afterwards. I will try keep this brief.

 

So, my mother is in South Africa, she's in her late 60s. My sister is in SA as well, but is looking to emigrate to the UK soon. Over the past year, it has become undeniable that my mom shouldn't be on her own or looking after herself, but she's in denial about it. She's got various issues: her mental health is a biggie and a very large part of why she's in denial about it. My sister arranged for a social worker to visit a couple of months ago and the social worker expressed concern about my mom's situation and indicated that things can't go on as they are, but it seems the social worker may not have capacity to help us with this: she took a month to send an invoice, which doesn't bode well for more complex things! We haven't had further communication with her so far since the initial visit, which is worrying, but I'm thinking of reaching out to her again.

 

I'm not asking any of the forums peeps to help personally, but I was hoping for any insights, experiences, or leads or suggestions on the steps involved, or connection to someone who may know the steps involved or knowledge of how 'the system' works (if there is such a thing) in SA, in order for us to get her support, or if she's not willing to come to terms with the situation, we'd need to look at getting her assessed etc to make sure she's looked after. I haven't brought this up with my mom and I'm not expecting her to be open to any sort of conversation along these lines. The social worker mentioned 'writing a report' so presumably that's a step somewhere in the process?

 

From what my sister tells me the system in SA is the complete opposite of the US, so the 'Britney situation' would be impossible in SA, and in fact the system is so extreme in its efforts to be the opposite of the US system that it actually makes it hard to get care for ageing people when they need it. It's also apparently expensive, and involves lawyers and red tape and is horrendously complex... but then that may just be my sister's dislike for 'admin'?

 

Any insights or guidance would be very much appreciated. I'm not really sure where to start, so any tips or pointers would help.

 

Thank you for listening!