Hoisting someone alone

[Marnie63]

Does anyone care for someone at home and have to use a hoist for transfers? SS have said mum is entitled to double up carer calls because she requires the use of a hoist for transfer from bed to chair. I have put her back to bed myself using the hoist on a couple of occasions as she was in pain from a bedsore and carer call was a few hours away. I mentioned this to one or two carers and there was much sharp intake of breath and disapproving looks. I know the official line is that two people have to hoist, but a physio who comes to see mum once a week has said that it is actually OK to do it safely alone, if I feel confident. Carers currently come 7pm-ish to get mum changed and put her to bed, it's really all too early and mum then takes ages to get off to sleep, shouts for me, etc. (I keep asking for later calls and hopefully they will come in time). I would be quite happy to put her to bed myself in the evenings if it meant that I had one less care call and could let her 'stay up' a bit later with me.

Has anyone encountered this issue of being told two people have to hoist, but overcome it? I assume that if a professional physio was to assess me hoisting and certify that I can safety hoist mum back into bed (which is a lot easier than hoisting bed to chair), then this would satisfy everyone that what I'm doing is safe? I don't want to get into trouble with SS by telling them I don't need an evening call for mum, then them querying why, finding out I am hoisting her myself and 'accusing' me of doing something unsafe. I would never do that. Or is it a standard line all round that one MUST have two people for hoisting? I'm not a great one for rules and regulations, especially about things going on in my own home, but neither do I want to fall foul of everyone (care agency, SS, etc.) who is currently helping me.

The point is that I will never get used to multiple carers stomping through my home. Currently it is the only way I can keep mum at home though as I cannot care for her without them. But, if only I could reduce the number of calls. But how to do that if she's immobile?

 

[Amy in the US]

Marnie, no experience of this, but I'm sure others will report in. In the meantime, I know you dislike the carers coming in, and the difficulty of trying to get the schedule right. I hear you. But please be careful of your body and health. If you get sick or injured it won't do your mum or you any good. Sending all possible best wishes your way.

 

[Kevinl]

I don't think a care company will allow one person to use a hoist alone, certainly I've never seen it done in a care home. There has to be one person to operate the hoist but another to oversee the safety of the person concerned.
Like anything else in life you can do it and it's all fine until something goes wrong, I used to go mountain climbing alone, something you're never supposed to do, nothing ever happened to me but all too often it did to other people sometimes with fatal consequences.
I doubt you'll get a care company to agree to a single carer operating a hoist.
K

 

[Sam Luvit]

https://www.independentliving.co.uk/moving-handling-it-takes-two/

Origin of the double handed care myth?
So to this new research, which identifies a possible source for the “two people for every lift” misconception, in the National Minimum Standards Regulations for Domiciliary Care 2003, which state:

“12.8 Two people fully trained in current safe handling techniques and the equipment to be used are always involved in the provision of care when the need is identified from the manual handling risk assessment.”

Note the final third of that statement, when the need is identified from the manual handling risk assessment.

What managers should take from this is that a moving and handling risk assessment is necessary, not that two carers should be involved in every lift.

—————

This may not be relevant but I thought I’d add the link if you want to read about it

My mum often talked of hoisting patients on her own as there were either not enough staff, or the other staff were “busy” in their breaks (she never was very subtle)

She talked of it being a knack, once mastered you can easily & safety move someone on your own. Would the Physio who visits be prepared or able to show you the safe way to do this, or could / would SS offer a training course you could take so their H&S rules are covered?

My understanding from Mum, was that so long as the patient is not fighting you, it’s safe to do, although can be very hard work if they don’t help you.

I may be mixing up your story with someone else, but I think you had something your Mum could use that helped you with moving her. There were some comments I’ve read on other pages, (very quick searches), that there is equipment to help, but many carers don’t know how to use them, so don’t. However, if you have anything that helps & know how to use it, then this should (?) make it safe for you to do solo

Sorry if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick , but thought I’d at least offer a suggestion. Pretty sure others will have more relevant experience

I can’t imagine the frustration of carers tramping through your home, but got to admire you for coping with it to have your Mum out of the hospital

Hope you are getting into a routine that maybe gives you a few minutes to yourself

 

[Marnie63]

Thanks Sam - I found the same article myself! I guess I would need to jump through all he official hoops to make sure everyone was happy with what I was doing. I will discuss with the physio when she's next here on Tuesday, I'm sure she must have experience of this already. I'm not saying I don't want ANY carers in and that I want to do all the hoisting myself, but it certainly helps to be able to do something myself. We do have a 'rotunda' which can be used by one carer, but mum cannot use that safely, so that's a no go.

I think ceiling hoists might be deemed safe for use by one carer, but not sure I want to go down that route.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder that in this day and age there is no easier way to move someone other than this sling/hoist system. You would think that by now someone would have devised something a bit more 'techie' to deal with the problem. Maybe it's just not an exciting enough field!

 

[Sam Luvit]

Hi @Marnie63

I got that it was the “getting to bed”one you wanted to do yourself, if they can’t come later, although I can see them just cancelling that rather than trying to come later if you say you’ll do it yourself, cost saving for them in a cash strapped situation.

I’m fairly confident that if you said you wanted to do one hoist move yourself, that they should help you jump through those hoops, as it will help them. But please make it plain that you only feel you can do that one. I’d hate for you to be left to do them all.

Mum talked of going off to find the hoist, so I took that to be some contraption that they wheeled about between rooms rather than a ceiling one. I would ask her but she’s not in a brilliant mood tonight & I doubt I’d understand having never seen one She always has talked about that thing, the whatsit & the whojumiflip Made understanding some nursing terms a no go

Mum always was pretty tiny, she occasionally went up to a size 12, but is just about 5’, so not a heavy weight , she talked of moving large ladies solo, as she knew the knack.

Hopefully the Physio will have some suggestions.

 

[LadyA]

When I last updated my patient moving training, the question of hoists and having to have two operators came up. The tutor said that generally, you use a second person to reassure the person being hoisted and to be at hand in case the person in the hoist became agitated, as it could be dangerous if they started moving.

 

[jugglingmum]

I'm sure that Bemused commented on this in her long thread and battles with carers. I haven't tried searching for it but it might provide some info - long thread tho with lots of other things. I think there were different types of hoist, fixed and mobile, single and double handed ones. Someone with better search skills than me maybe able to locate the thread

 

[Aitchbee]

Hi Marnie. We care for Mum at home and have to use a hoist for transfers. I use the hoist on my own to transfer Mum from her chair to bed or to the commode. We have carers coming in 3 x a day but she sometimes needs moving at times when they are not due to call. I don't know what SS's take on this would be?

 

[nita]

I wrote about this a few years ago. My own thread was this one:-

https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/thr...t-home-all-advice-welcomed.68704/#post-904606

I also wrote a comment on this thread:-

https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/thr...ds-hoisting-to-be-toileted.60764/#post-794058

Bemused wrote at the end of this thread. I will see if I can find more that bemused wrote.

Just to copy the most relevant section on my own experience with a SW.

"I was told by the Social Worker that I couldn't do it alone. I wanted to have training on using a hoist but couldn't find a course locally. In any case, I was told that a carer from an agency wouldn't be allowed to work with me as I wasn't an employee! "

I felt that as SS were funding my mother's care, I didn't really have a say in this. Also, I would have felt unsure about doing it alone. My mother had a mobile hoist and even with the two carers, one had to position the legs of the hoist around the commode and use the controls whilst the other checked that my mother's head and legs/feet were safe.

Also, with my mother being bedbound I would have had difficulty getting the sling correctly positioned underneath her. She was about 9 stone and not being able to move herself, she was very heavy to move. If your mother is lighter, it may all be easier.

 

[nita]

I did a search for "hoisting" and "bemused1" as Member and three mentions came up on two threads she wrote. They both spoke of the problems of inexperienced carers (I could have written screeds on this too) and also the difficulty of eventually hoisting her husband even with 2 carers due to his immobility and weight.

So it may depend on the stage the person is at (i.e. later stages the person cannot help at all) and their weight. But even a light person can become a "dead weight" when they cannot move themselves.

 

[Marnie63]

Thanks all. Just out now for a break (carer here for 6 hours today - yippee!), but will digest all of the above later today. The idea that two 'professional' carers will do it a lot more safely than me is a myth, in my view. I have watched carers when I have hoisted with them and they don't always get it right, so I don't believe that two professionals would always make sure mum was safe. I do have faith that most of the time they are doing it OK, but I have seen mum's toes knocked against a wall, the hoist control dropped onto mum's feet and mum's feet knocked against the big lumpy thing which I assume is the hoist's motor, and which is positioned in the most ridiculous position (but probably there for a reason?). Also, dragging of heels on the bed, which I have been told is not good because of possible pressure sores there. On the two or three occasions I have hoisted mum into bed myself, I am very slow, and very, very careful. Mum was not knocked against anything. I have also once hoisted mum back into the wheelchair and I did that OK too. I appreciate there is a lot to look out for, but if you do it slowly and carefully, it is not impossible.

I hate officialdom and I absolutely hate being told what I can and cannot do in my own home. Anyway, will discuss with physio tomorrow. I have found the NHS physios and OT very, very safety conscious, to the point where physio has not been done because of a particular ailment mum had at that time. Everyone seems so terrified of being held to account for something. The private lady I have now employed uses a more common sense approach. I'm not convinced she will make mum walk again, but I am not giving up with the possibility things may improve to make transfers a little easier. I have been able to get mum to stand up, holding onto a frame, independently, without me holding her up - so why have the professional physios and OTs not been able to do this?!

Of course the issue is that SS are involved and paying funding towards mum's care, so we have to do everything above board (or in secret!).

 

[Soobee]

My mum always had two carers for every visit because she was completely immobile and fairly heavy.

I understand what you're saying, everyone is different, but I would not have wanted to try hoisting her on my own. I would have been scared of making a mistake and her falling or suffering an injury whilst I concentrated on lifting and lowering.

 

[Prudence9]

Hi Marnie, I use a hoist on my own for Mum.

My Council are very helpful and as Mum's mobility was rapidly diminishing about 18 months ago (and just prior to a hospital admission), I knew it wouldn't be long before I would be unable to haul her up from her profiling bed to the commode, so called them and was put it touch with the Manual Handling Dept (we'd had a lovely Physio but she told me we couldn't have a hoist "just in case Mum's mobility went".....).

They were wonderful, came out within two days to assess Mum and we had the hoist within a week and I was trained up to use it within an hour, they even brought a slide sheet for me to use to move Mum in bed
It is a bit daunting when you go to use it for the first time but that bit of fear didn't last long as you're busy reassuring and checking everything as you lift and lower.

It is a lot less complicated than it looks and ours has two emergency back-up buttons to use in case the battery suddenly goes flat (only had that problem once though).

No objections from anyone about me using it on my own.

Mum was always a bit uncomfortable and nervous when in it but I wasn't transferring her far and now that she's totally bed-bound I use it for changing the bed whilst just hoisting her above it. It is truly a godsend.

She's now totally immobile and doubly incontinent (and I've been bed-bathing her for about 3 years now), she weighs about 10 st so I have to do a lot of rolling and sliding but thanks to the slide sheet and the hoist it's all do-able.

We don't have Care Workers in - did try twice but although the girls were wonderful, Mum cannot wake up or be ready for a Tena-change to order so it was pointless (also hated having people in and out of the house a lot, we can manage ok at the moment although I know the time is coming when we'll need them).

So, after all that waffle....please give your Manual Handling Team a call, your Mum's already in the system so it shouldn't be a problem for you to request a training session at home - good luck

 

[nita]

I wish I could have done the same for my mother, Prudence, but the SW stopped me. Can I ask if you had SS funding as I think that was relevant in my case. Also, how did you use a slide sheet alone as it needs two people to move the person up/down and sideways? Did you go from one side of the bed to the other? You really need someone on the other side to tip the person while you hold the opposite end, for moving them to the side of the bed, for example.

I found it really hard when I did have to change Mum on my own. She had the large "nappy" type pads and I ended up having to roll her to one side, see to the tabs on that side and adjust the pad, then back the other way, having to go from one side of the bed to the other. She was in a hospital bed and it was impossible to lean over it due to the width.

 

[Prudence9]

Hi Nita, we had a 6 week re-ablement package when Mum was discharged from hospital (I cancelled it after 3), the NHS OT was wary but happy to let me try by myself with slide sheet & hoist - when she told me I neede
d two to slide her I asked was it not possible to pull her carefully from behind at the head of the bed, she laughed and said "what you do in the privacy of your own home is none of my business!" - think she could see I was determined...
Wouldn't really recommend it, I do have a dodgy back but my exercises have kept any problems at Bay so far..

Mum has the tena nappy wraps, the slips and the Flex which are brilliant.

I had discussed all of this with several SWs & no problems, think I'm lucky with our council. Have to go, will be back later xx