This could be a blessing in disguise Gill.

My father's initial ACAT assessment was for living at home with support...meals on wheels, someone to come in for 30 minutes a day to check on him and do middle of the day meds, supervise his lunch (often forgot to eat if not prompted) etc.  It was moderately successful for a few weeks but we felt that his dementia was progressing rather more quickly than expected and requested another assessment.....6 months wait.

He developed an infection and the doctor hospitalised him, where he had a fall.  He really had the medical staff worried as he literally curled up in a ball and was unresponsive to everyone and everything, although the doctors could find no reason for it.  It took several weeks for him to come out of it, by which time the hospital had arranged an new ACAT assessment.  It took just 48 hours to get it and 3 days later he was in high dependency nursing home care.

Try and see a social worker at the hospital...they can be very helpful in pushing for an ACAT assessment.  They tend to look at the overall family situation rather than just the medical condition of the patient.  Stress that you have limited family support.

Good luck with getting the outcome that you want.

BTW, my mother was a very well controlled Type 2 diabetic using only tablets but after a major operation her diabetes went haywire...nothing seemed to control it successfully....her doctor was coming to the house doing blood tests every second day to try and pin point the problem.