Well here I am. I'm not sure about this new layout. I think it might be some time before I get my head around it enough to be as comfortable as I was with the previous incarnation!
I didn't say much when I last posted, I was so wound up I would have just made a mess of it.
The visit on Sunday was the worst I've ever experienced and not because of mum. I met my cousin and his wife at 3.30 so we could go in together. We walked in tailgating a member of staff who didn't so much as raise an eyebrow. Mum is on the first floor, there was no one on reception so we went straight up, I know the number for the keypad to access mum's unit so we went in. Mum was in the lounge with her one to one, she vanished the minute we arrived without even asking who we were and that was the last we saw of her. There were 4 staff members sitting at the back of the lounge chatting about a resident (including naming the lady) and discussing her attack on a nurse.
I went to mum's room with my cousin's wife and there were notes relating to a male patient in mum's cubby hole, really poor data protection!
Tea was a buffet meal served at 4.30. There was no suggestion of a protected mealtime, residents were not even encouraged towards the dining room and no one asked us to step out to protect the dignity of residents who needed assistance. Mum's buffet was a sausage roll, half a pork pie, half a scotch egg, a roll cut in half one part with ham the other with a slice of processed chicken, a small piece of celery and quite a substantial portion of trifle. Not very diabetic friendly!
One of the lady residents came over when mum was eating and grabbed mum's food squeezing it through her fingers. Staff promised a replacement, but it didn't materialise, so basically mum had trifle.
I nabbed the unit manager, S. Once again she denied the incident with the walker and she was dismissive of the fact that the consultant had been told it had happened. She also told me mum's walker had not been put of her room since she moved in.
Quite frankly I was furious. When we left once again there was no one on reception. A staff member had gone out ahead of us, the door is slow closing so we tailgate her out. Not really good.
At the meeting on Monday I went ballistic and demanded we move mum. The social worker agreed to this but uturned afterwards and said it wasn't in mum's best interests to move her, but that she has had to raise a safeguarding incident regarding the non use of mum's walker as that is in her care plan as she is a falls risk. I wasn't happy with the uturn and told her I wanted any further communication to be by email as she contradicts herself (this wasn't the first time) she's refused as she doesn't do emails. Her line manager and I may have to have a chat about that.
The home promised improvements, that was Monday. After the meeting I went through to see mum, she was in the lounge of a unit which isn't hers, but it seemed that was where she wanted to go. She was barefooted which didn't impress me. Mum has shoes, 2 pairs of slippers and several pairs of slipper socks, there's no reason for her not to have something on her feet. The walker wasn't anywhere in evidence either. Mum's one to one on Monday morning was a busy lady, she explained to me that her mobile hadn't stopped as she'd just become a grandmother and indeed she immediately took a call after telling me this, she then disappeared off into the corridor and wasn't seen again until. I went to find her when I was leaving. Whist sitting with mum another staff member wandered in to collect her mobile from behind the cushions on the sofa where she was charging it. I know mobiles are important to all of us, but if these staff were serving on a till in Sainsburys they could hardly ask people to wait as their phones were busy. Another 2 staff came in complaining about a resident needing to go to a dental appointment saying how short staffed they were. One loudly proclaimed to the other that she wasn't taking him. So unprofessional, they could see me in the room yet carried on as though I wasn't there.
Meeting number 2 was yesterday. I brought up the mobile phone usage etc. The policy is no mobiles for staff whilst on duty, but agency staff are apparently hard to police. The consultant was at the meeting yesterday. She was very clear the incident with the walker did take place. On Monday the home manager said there was another new resident and there had been an incident with her, she suggested that the staff had told the consultant about that resident in error, I pointed out that was quite disgusting if that happened and just as bad as not recording the incident if mum was aggressive with her walker, in fact possibly worse. The consultant was very certain that the nurse she spoke with on Thursday was talking about mum, so it boils down to poor record keeping by a staff member who is now on leave. For me it was also the dismissive behaviour of the nursing manager which was as important, the home manager assures me this will all be addressed and that mum's notes will be fully accessible to me and that she will ensure I'm fully in the loop regarding mum's behaviour. Time will tell, but they certainly know I'm watching and vocal and well up for complaining!
As to mum herself she's okish. The incident with the walker was Tuesday night, on Wednesday they'd had her downstairs and she'd flipped in the foyer when they were return her upstairs, she'd "gone for" the home manager and the deputy and she sacked both of them. She put herself to the floor and demanded the police were called. They had someone in a security guard uniform in the home at the time so to appease mum he came over to mum, she quickly sussed that he wasn't a police officer so she went for him too. Classic mum. Thursday night she didn't go to bed or sleep at all, Friday, through to Monday there was only verbal aggression, so not too bad. Mum was up and about for the day by 5am on Tuesday morning, bit early, but hey ho, what can they do. The manager called this morning to tell me mum was up and aggressive around 3.30am this morning. Staff gave her space to wander and calm down, she calmed and went back to her room, but was quickly back out again more aggressive demanding the staff get out of she house shouting and balling and trying to get into other residents rooms. The manager says they will monitor her sleep through to early next week and if she continues with disrupted sleep they may have to ask her consultant to come back in for a medication review or they may need to ask for a night time one to one. Mum's one to one is currently 8am to midnight so16 hours a day. A night time one to one will mean more money. As I've said the weekly cost for the home with the one to one is currently in excess of £2k per week. Lord knows how much that would have to rise if they had to add in night time one to one support as well. As I said to one of my friends today if I was having to pay for this I'd have to consider going on the game and pray that there was a niche market out there for overweight, plain 40 plus woman, otherwise it'd be selling my body parts!
All in all its been pretty stressful. There were other things we saw on Sunday which I've not mentioned here. All in all the bullet pointed list I produced has 13 things on it. I hope things can improve. I'm aware that I'm micro managing at the moment, but I will feel the need to do this until I feel I can trust them. I'm sure I will not be popular, but this is mum's care and it has to be good.
I didn't say much when I last posted, I was so wound up I would have just made a mess of it.
The visit on Sunday was the worst I've ever experienced and not because of mum. I met my cousin and his wife at 3.30 so we could go in together. We walked in tailgating a member of staff who didn't so much as raise an eyebrow. Mum is on the first floor, there was no one on reception so we went straight up, I know the number for the keypad to access mum's unit so we went in. Mum was in the lounge with her one to one, she vanished the minute we arrived without even asking who we were and that was the last we saw of her. There were 4 staff members sitting at the back of the lounge chatting about a resident (including naming the lady) and discussing her attack on a nurse.
I went to mum's room with my cousin's wife and there were notes relating to a male patient in mum's cubby hole, really poor data protection!
Tea was a buffet meal served at 4.30. There was no suggestion of a protected mealtime, residents were not even encouraged towards the dining room and no one asked us to step out to protect the dignity of residents who needed assistance. Mum's buffet was a sausage roll, half a pork pie, half a scotch egg, a roll cut in half one part with ham the other with a slice of processed chicken, a small piece of celery and quite a substantial portion of trifle. Not very diabetic friendly!
One of the lady residents came over when mum was eating and grabbed mum's food squeezing it through her fingers. Staff promised a replacement, but it didn't materialise, so basically mum had trifle.
I nabbed the unit manager, S. Once again she denied the incident with the walker and she was dismissive of the fact that the consultant had been told it had happened. She also told me mum's walker had not been put of her room since she moved in.
Quite frankly I was furious. When we left once again there was no one on reception. A staff member had gone out ahead of us, the door is slow closing so we tailgate her out. Not really good.
At the meeting on Monday I went ballistic and demanded we move mum. The social worker agreed to this but uturned afterwards and said it wasn't in mum's best interests to move her, but that she has had to raise a safeguarding incident regarding the non use of mum's walker as that is in her care plan as she is a falls risk. I wasn't happy with the uturn and told her I wanted any further communication to be by email as she contradicts herself (this wasn't the first time) she's refused as she doesn't do emails. Her line manager and I may have to have a chat about that.
The home promised improvements, that was Monday. After the meeting I went through to see mum, she was in the lounge of a unit which isn't hers, but it seemed that was where she wanted to go. She was barefooted which didn't impress me. Mum has shoes, 2 pairs of slippers and several pairs of slipper socks, there's no reason for her not to have something on her feet. The walker wasn't anywhere in evidence either. Mum's one to one on Monday morning was a busy lady, she explained to me that her mobile hadn't stopped as she'd just become a grandmother and indeed she immediately took a call after telling me this, she then disappeared off into the corridor and wasn't seen again until. I went to find her when I was leaving. Whist sitting with mum another staff member wandered in to collect her mobile from behind the cushions on the sofa where she was charging it. I know mobiles are important to all of us, but if these staff were serving on a till in Sainsburys they could hardly ask people to wait as their phones were busy. Another 2 staff came in complaining about a resident needing to go to a dental appointment saying how short staffed they were. One loudly proclaimed to the other that she wasn't taking him. So unprofessional, they could see me in the room yet carried on as though I wasn't there.
Meeting number 2 was yesterday. I brought up the mobile phone usage etc. The policy is no mobiles for staff whilst on duty, but agency staff are apparently hard to police. The consultant was at the meeting yesterday. She was very clear the incident with the walker did take place. On Monday the home manager said there was another new resident and there had been an incident with her, she suggested that the staff had told the consultant about that resident in error, I pointed out that was quite disgusting if that happened and just as bad as not recording the incident if mum was aggressive with her walker, in fact possibly worse. The consultant was very certain that the nurse she spoke with on Thursday was talking about mum, so it boils down to poor record keeping by a staff member who is now on leave. For me it was also the dismissive behaviour of the nursing manager which was as important, the home manager assures me this will all be addressed and that mum's notes will be fully accessible to me and that she will ensure I'm fully in the loop regarding mum's behaviour. Time will tell, but they certainly know I'm watching and vocal and well up for complaining!
As to mum herself she's okish. The incident with the walker was Tuesday night, on Wednesday they'd had her downstairs and she'd flipped in the foyer when they were return her upstairs, she'd "gone for" the home manager and the deputy and she sacked both of them. She put herself to the floor and demanded the police were called. They had someone in a security guard uniform in the home at the time so to appease mum he came over to mum, she quickly sussed that he wasn't a police officer so she went for him too. Classic mum. Thursday night she didn't go to bed or sleep at all, Friday, through to Monday there was only verbal aggression, so not too bad. Mum was up and about for the day by 5am on Tuesday morning, bit early, but hey ho, what can they do. The manager called this morning to tell me mum was up and aggressive around 3.30am this morning. Staff gave her space to wander and calm down, she calmed and went back to her room, but was quickly back out again more aggressive demanding the staff get out of she house shouting and balling and trying to get into other residents rooms. The manager says they will monitor her sleep through to early next week and if she continues with disrupted sleep they may have to ask her consultant to come back in for a medication review or they may need to ask for a night time one to one. Mum's one to one is currently 8am to midnight so16 hours a day. A night time one to one will mean more money. As I've said the weekly cost for the home with the one to one is currently in excess of £2k per week. Lord knows how much that would have to rise if they had to add in night time one to one support as well. As I said to one of my friends today if I was having to pay for this I'd have to consider going on the game and pray that there was a niche market out there for overweight, plain 40 plus woman, otherwise it'd be selling my body parts!
All in all its been pretty stressful. There were other things we saw on Sunday which I've not mentioned here. All in all the bullet pointed list I produced has 13 things on it. I hope things can improve. I'm aware that I'm micro managing at the moment, but I will feel the need to do this until I feel I can trust them. I'm sure I will not be popular, but this is mum's care and it has to be good.
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