Am I being overprotect and unreasonable?

[Sandy47]

Absolutely disgraceful, Sandy. The problem with poor care is that it goes on over a period of time and so everyone involved can ‘pass the buck’. Your experiences do point to something of wider concern: the patient history is not correct if the board says that your father is self-feeding when he can’t feed himself. Who recorded this and how did s/he reach this conclusion? Having enough to eat and drink is a basic part of recovery from illness / an accident / an operation and yet we’ve heard for years about frail elderly patients becoming malnourished because food is left for them on a tray and they can’t eat it.

In this Covid era I find it interesting that an 80 year Covid patient (well, a patient of any age) can have all the resources of the NHS thrown at him / her to cure and rehabilitate him / her but very basic things such as making sure that a PWD eats and drinks, is taken to the toilet and kept clean cannot be done for a PWD. Why is that?

I certainly think that there is a training issue. I watched one health care assistant try to move my elderly friend from the bed to a wheelchair. She didn’t seem to know how to go about it at all. Isn’t patient transfer part of basic knowledge?

Perhaps the NHS should just be honest and say that it doesn’t want to treat the frail elderly / people with dementia and that they should not be brought into hospital because they are likely to leave in a poorer state than that in which they arrived.

Thank you for replying. I totally agree. MH was written off as soon as Alzheimers was mentioned. It is hard for nursing staff to cope with people with dementia in ordinary elderly persons wards as their tendency to wander around and their need for extra help puts a strain on the staff.
There should be designated dementia wards with properly trained staff who choose to be there or , wherever possible, be given the medical help they need at home.

 

[Melles Belles]

I think a huge part of the lack of proper care of PWD in hospital is down problems with social care. So often PWD are medically fit for discharge but there is nowhere for them to go or it takes ages to organise a CH or care at home. If they were moved promptly to an assessment bed or CH they would get more support with eating, drinking and mobility. That would free up resources in hospitals and a CH is cheaper than a hospital.
The govt still doesn’t get it. People should only be in hospital while they are being assessed or actively treated. where is the common sense and a will to do something about it.

 

[notsogooddtr]

My personal opinion is that the NHS is being set up to fail so there won't be too many protests when it is privatised. There is a lot of money to be made from private health care.

 

[RosettaT]

Thank you for replying. I totally agree. MH was written off as soon as Alzheimers was mentioned. It is hard for nursing staff to cope with people with dementia in ordinary elderly persons wards as their tendency to wander around and their need for extra help puts a strain on the staff.
There should be designated dementia wards with properly trained staff who choose to be there or , wherever possible, be given the medical help they need at home.

Oh yes, my OH was refused re-enablement because he had an Alzheimer's diagnosis. They said he couldn't take instruction, which was bull. He still can now, 3yrs later.
It was only because the social worker had witnessed OH taking instructions, that she told them under no uncertain terms that they were to access him as an individual not assume what he can't achieve.
That attitude still makes me cross when I see it.