Hi all, I’m a bit flummoxed and concerned about mum’s nursing home at the minute and I suppose want to vent and check that I’m not being a worry wart. She’s been there just over a month and whilst not content as she wants to be home is settled, she’s there for respite to see if the delirium will lift enough so she can return home. The problem is that for the second day in a row I was approached by mums nurse about her medication running low. Yesterday the nurse in front of mum, told me that one of her meds was low, that she hadn’t realised as the meds were in a blister pack, as it was one that can be purchased I offered to get it, she then returned 20 minutes later with 2 medications written down, the 2nd one is prescription only and is not sold over the counter. When I queried this and explained there was no way I could get it she asked if I had any at home! To which I said no. I suggested she contact mums usual chemist to see if he could help,she asked if I could ring, I said no. She returned, handed me two empty boxes and I went out to the chemist, got the meds and came back. The only reason I did that was because it was nearly 4pm and I knew that the chemists would close soon plus it is a long bank holiday too. Then today the nurse approached me again to say another med was low! This time an anti psychotic med! I was far from pleased and asked what did she expect me to do? I queried the safety of the home, pointed out that they were in charge of meds not me and I was far from pleased. The nurse said that it was hard to get through to the doctors surgery! As if that was why the meds were low, remember this was the 2nd day it happened and doctors don’t open at the weekend here.The nurse manager came( after a care assistant asked me was all ok and I explained no and why. The nurse manager explained that if meds were low then she would phone out of hours doctors to get the meds so there was no risk of mum missing a dose which would be reported to inspectors. I asked why then had I been told 2 days in a row, she said oh just to keep you informed. I said no, I had clearly been asked to get the meds yesterday. I’m really not happy and am worried about mum, she needs her meds in order to keep making progress.
Nursing home concerns
- Thread starter Lily1
- Start date
No...in my view not acceptable. The NH has the responsibility of stocking adequate supply and safe administering of prescription meds for your mum not you. I would speak to the manager about their meds management. Dad was in a NH...with poa health I spoke to the Drs when they visited if any problems or concerns arose but I quite rightly did not intervene with drugs and was never asked to. When dad first moved into the NH..his boxes of meds and not blister pack (staff not allowed to use unidentified meds or unconfirmed dose from blister pack) was used for continuity but within 2 days a month's supply of all his drugs had been supplied.
Thanks, I thought it was odd that I was involved and was quite worried that they had not ensured that the meds were as they should. I’ll definitely be asking about their meds management, especially as my mind now needs to be satisfied that all is as it should be.
The only thing I can think is there a difference because it is respite rather than permanency atm? My dad started as a 2 week trial although I knew from day one it would be permanent but even so they had meds best practice in place without knowing it would be longer than 2 weeks and I was told for the reasons explained in my post that blister packs could not be used in their NH only meds from original packaging
As your Mum is not a permanent resident might the home be expecting your Mum’s own doctor to be continuing her drug supply? I have no knowledge of temporary care so just a thought.
If this is temporary respite then she will still be registered under her normal doctor and they are not responsible for getting the medication, just for administering it. If she is made a permanent resident, she would be registered with their own doctor, and then the full responsibility would fall on them.
No, unfortunately she has sudden reduced mental capacity which can fluctuate so was placed in the nursing home for possibly 2-6 months initially as she simply wasn’t safe enough to come back home, to see if she came out of her altered state. She was discharged directly to the NH, all medical, nursing and personalcare is handled by them, or is supposed to be. They were given initial medications by the hospital, they have her medications list and are responsible as I was told when she entered to reorder these and all relevant discharge instructions. Here, residents can keep their own GP if they remain in the area which mum is and has done, the NH has been in contact with her GPbefore when she had additional issues That’s why I was concerned, even when we were at our wits end and sleep deprived because of her nocturnal wandering before mum went into hospital we ensured her meds were in good supply and given on time. Also, it’s the NH who started the blister pack order, we didn’t have a blister pack order when mum was at home, we got the meds and sorted them out ourselves.
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From your description I would say the responsibility now lies with the NH....2 to 6 months is a fairly long period which may lead to permanent. If your mum didn't have family the NH would have to organise continuity of supply as they probably do for others. At dad's NH they did similar to in hospital...nurses went round with a drugs trolley with residents individual drugs handed out from original packaging rather than blister packs and recorded as they went round then revisiting those residents asleep or non compliant.
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Mum’s NH does the same, they go round with a trolley but apparently they receive the meds in a blister pack and then open it to give her the meds daily on their rounds ( she gets different meds at 4 different times of the day), I simply don’t understand how they’ve managed to twice not check that the meds are there, definitely a chat about meds management is in order I think.
Assuming then that all her meds are on repeat prescription it doesn't make sense to me that 2 are presumably missing from a blister pack prepared by the pharmacy from the prescription held there directly from the GP which was the system when dad had to have a blister pack for a few weeks at home.
That’s exactly my thought, there’s been a slip up somewhere, and, those missing were coincidentally new meds which arose from her time in hospital which were passed directly to the NH upon mums discharge so they were not part of her usual prescription and the first ordered since their taking over the meds. This is the first time they ordered the meds as the hospital had provided a months supply, which the ambulance crew that transferred mum handed straight to the NH when mum arrived. It’s just so frustrating as the NH should be taking some stress away from worrying about mum and now I feel more concerned. It’s been hard enough to get mum stabilised and then settled and accepting/knowing that we can’t look after her at present without falling apart ourselves, now, I feel in some way that I’ve let her down.
