Hi,
I'm just so angry I need to share this with someone before I explode!
My Dad's Nursing Home is lovely, they look after him well, and they support me. I feel I have to say this at the outset, because just at the moment I'm furious with them. The home had contacted the NHS continuing Care team for Dad to have an assessment because they feel he has deteriorated significantly. When his appointment came through the Nurse in charge said she was on leave that day, but that she would come in for Dad's assessment. Now, she is entitled to her leave, I'd be the first person to say she works really hard etc, but she had told everyone she would come in. The nurse on Dad's floor yesterday afternoon when he was being assessed, was an agency nurse who didn't know Dad from Adam. But I wasn't worried, because I knew that J had said she'd be there. She didn't arrive. She hadn't briefed anyone else. The agency nurse sent in a carer who hasn't been back from maternity leave very long, and who has had limited contact with Dad. I visit 6 days out of 7, but this carer actually said to the nurse who was filling out the Decision Support Tool that she didn't know who I was, and kept referring to my sister (who visits for 15 minutes most weeks) as "Tom's daughter"! So anything I said was completely undermined as having no credibility.
We went through the forms, and the nurse doing the assessment kept saying, "But there's no evidence for this", and she was really apologetic because she had seen Dad having a major shouting match and throwing a plastic cup at a carer, but none of it was written down. She kept saying that the home should have kept behaviour charts, there should have been records of him causing injury to members of staff, and there should have been records of his refusal to take medication.
I feel completely let down. I didn't instigate this, but the Nurse in charge had told me that Dad met all the criteria. I just can't understand how they could have failed to provide adequate paperwork, and how nobody had been briefed to help with the assessment. The nurse doing the assessment said that if there had been someone there who could have corroborated what I was saying, then she could at least have written that down. I had had to take the afternoon off work and sit there for three hours, and I came out wanting to cry. We were doing this in the office and residents kept wandering in, and being insistent on being talked to, but no staff came near because they didn't want to intrude! The nurse doing the assessment did say that I must be a regular because I knew all the residents and how to calm them down, so at least then I felt that she wasn't doubting that I did visit. I think the carer who sat in felt that it would make the home look bad if she said they had problems looking after Dad. She even said that he "could weight bear, but chose not to", as her reason for them not using a hoist to lift him. So that marked him down on mobility!
Sorry about the rant, but I don't know who else to tell. I don't even feel that I can say anything at the home because I'd let my anger spoil the good relationship I'd thought I had with them.
Anyway, I don't think we'll get it, and I don't know how I'm going to speak to anyone at the home. The bitter, twisted part of me wants to say, "Go on then, communicate with "his daughter", I'm done with this", but I know I'm just being childish. I will get over it, just don't know how.
Love, Sue
I'm just so angry I need to share this with someone before I explode!
My Dad's Nursing Home is lovely, they look after him well, and they support me. I feel I have to say this at the outset, because just at the moment I'm furious with them. The home had contacted the NHS continuing Care team for Dad to have an assessment because they feel he has deteriorated significantly. When his appointment came through the Nurse in charge said she was on leave that day, but that she would come in for Dad's assessment. Now, she is entitled to her leave, I'd be the first person to say she works really hard etc, but she had told everyone she would come in. The nurse on Dad's floor yesterday afternoon when he was being assessed, was an agency nurse who didn't know Dad from Adam. But I wasn't worried, because I knew that J had said she'd be there. She didn't arrive. She hadn't briefed anyone else. The agency nurse sent in a carer who hasn't been back from maternity leave very long, and who has had limited contact with Dad. I visit 6 days out of 7, but this carer actually said to the nurse who was filling out the Decision Support Tool that she didn't know who I was, and kept referring to my sister (who visits for 15 minutes most weeks) as "Tom's daughter"! So anything I said was completely undermined as having no credibility.
We went through the forms, and the nurse doing the assessment kept saying, "But there's no evidence for this", and she was really apologetic because she had seen Dad having a major shouting match and throwing a plastic cup at a carer, but none of it was written down. She kept saying that the home should have kept behaviour charts, there should have been records of him causing injury to members of staff, and there should have been records of his refusal to take medication.
I feel completely let down. I didn't instigate this, but the Nurse in charge had told me that Dad met all the criteria. I just can't understand how they could have failed to provide adequate paperwork, and how nobody had been briefed to help with the assessment. The nurse doing the assessment said that if there had been someone there who could have corroborated what I was saying, then she could at least have written that down. I had had to take the afternoon off work and sit there for three hours, and I came out wanting to cry. We were doing this in the office and residents kept wandering in, and being insistent on being talked to, but no staff came near because they didn't want to intrude! The nurse doing the assessment did say that I must be a regular because I knew all the residents and how to calm them down, so at least then I felt that she wasn't doubting that I did visit. I think the carer who sat in felt that it would make the home look bad if she said they had problems looking after Dad. She even said that he "could weight bear, but chose not to", as her reason for them not using a hoist to lift him. So that marked him down on mobility!
Sorry about the rant, but I don't know who else to tell. I don't even feel that I can say anything at the home because I'd let my anger spoil the good relationship I'd thought I had with them.
Anyway, I don't think we'll get it, and I don't know how I'm going to speak to anyone at the home. The bitter, twisted part of me wants to say, "Go on then, communicate with "his daughter", I'm done with this", but I know I'm just being childish. I will get over it, just don't know how.
Love, Sue
