hello - I wanted to write and ask everyone if what we experienced in a care home has ever been experienced by anyone anywhere else.
My father has Alzheimer's and has been cared for by my Mum for 10 years. the past few months have been very very hard as he has deteriorated very quickly and so finally my poor mum had to accept (after he had a very bad fall) that he needed to go into a care home. We looked around and he went into a home close to where Mum lives, as the people there had told us so many positive things about how they would care for dad.
He went into the home on the 7th November - initially for 2 weeks respite which would hopefully turn permanent. My mum then came straight down to me in the south of England for a break. And on the 16th November I went back up with her to Scotland to visit him for the first time. This is what we found, after he had been in the home 10 days:
-He had been restrained in a chair with straps, 24 hours a day.
-They said we had given permission for restraint - we hadn't - in fact we hadn't even been asked.
-He wasn't allowed to go to bed - ever
-He had meals restrained in his wheelchair - so it really was 24 hours a day.
-He had weeping and bleeding pressure sores on his bottom. He had never had skin problems prior to this.
-He had been kept permanently in incontinence pants, and never taken to the toilet. He had never been incontinent prior to this.
-As a result he hadn't had a proper bowel movement in a long time and was really sore
-Every time we took him to the toilet on successive days we found that his incontinence pants were absolutely full of urine and soiled. In addition he had obviously not been cleaned properly when last changed and it really hurt him to clean him.
-He hadn't had a bath in 10 days, only 2 brief showers
-His hands were filthy
-His nose was bleeding
-He hadn't had his teeth cleaned in 10 days - we know this because the seal on his toothpaste had never been removed.
-He had been put on a new medication - Zopiclone, without the consent of his family, his specialist or his GP, and without his medical records being present. This drug had made him really wobbly and zombie-ish.
-one day we found him obviously not having swallowed one of his breakfast capsules. This drug turns everything a dark greeny-blue, so the entire lower half of his face was dark blue, the inside of his mouth, his hands, and it was 11 o'clock and there were 2 carers in the living room and they had done nothing
-When we changed him there were no clean pants in his room to change him into, and no spare incontinence pants. in fact we found him one day with no pants on under his trousers, just the pad.
I can't even begin to explain how upset we were. My father was being kept like a wild animal. He was dehydrated and upset. He's lost weight and has bleeding sores on his body. He was filthy. He was never incontinent before, but they might now have turned him that way. We didn't see anyone (except one nurse) smile at him, let alone speak to him.
Obviously he is being moved to another care home right now, but this is about as bad as I could ever imagine. We'd been trying to get mum to use respite for months, and then when we did for the first time, this is what happened. I feel like my heart has broken - and will never fix.
Lesley
My father has Alzheimer's and has been cared for by my Mum for 10 years. the past few months have been very very hard as he has deteriorated very quickly and so finally my poor mum had to accept (after he had a very bad fall) that he needed to go into a care home. We looked around and he went into a home close to where Mum lives, as the people there had told us so many positive things about how they would care for dad.
He went into the home on the 7th November - initially for 2 weeks respite which would hopefully turn permanent. My mum then came straight down to me in the south of England for a break. And on the 16th November I went back up with her to Scotland to visit him for the first time. This is what we found, after he had been in the home 10 days:
-He had been restrained in a chair with straps, 24 hours a day.
-They said we had given permission for restraint - we hadn't - in fact we hadn't even been asked.
-He wasn't allowed to go to bed - ever
-He had meals restrained in his wheelchair - so it really was 24 hours a day.
-He had weeping and bleeding pressure sores on his bottom. He had never had skin problems prior to this.
-He had been kept permanently in incontinence pants, and never taken to the toilet. He had never been incontinent prior to this.
-As a result he hadn't had a proper bowel movement in a long time and was really sore
-Every time we took him to the toilet on successive days we found that his incontinence pants were absolutely full of urine and soiled. In addition he had obviously not been cleaned properly when last changed and it really hurt him to clean him.
-He hadn't had a bath in 10 days, only 2 brief showers
-His hands were filthy
-His nose was bleeding
-He hadn't had his teeth cleaned in 10 days - we know this because the seal on his toothpaste had never been removed.
-He had been put on a new medication - Zopiclone, without the consent of his family, his specialist or his GP, and without his medical records being present. This drug had made him really wobbly and zombie-ish.
-one day we found him obviously not having swallowed one of his breakfast capsules. This drug turns everything a dark greeny-blue, so the entire lower half of his face was dark blue, the inside of his mouth, his hands, and it was 11 o'clock and there were 2 carers in the living room and they had done nothing
-When we changed him there were no clean pants in his room to change him into, and no spare incontinence pants. in fact we found him one day with no pants on under his trousers, just the pad.
I can't even begin to explain how upset we were. My father was being kept like a wild animal. He was dehydrated and upset. He's lost weight and has bleeding sores on his body. He was filthy. He was never incontinent before, but they might now have turned him that way. We didn't see anyone (except one nurse) smile at him, let alone speak to him.
Obviously he is being moved to another care home right now, but this is about as bad as I could ever imagine. We'd been trying to get mum to use respite for months, and then when we did for the first time, this is what happened. I feel like my heart has broken - and will never fix.
Lesley