Angry with hospital ward over treatment of my OH

[IrinaH]

Hello Everyone,
I am a new member. my husband had infection ITU below, and he has vascular dementia from 2019. On the 25th
November, his diabetic was very high and he had pains everywhere. I called an ambulance and had Togo to the
hispital with him. He had loads of tests and the kept him in. He was there a week and he came back on Wednesday
without antibiotics He could hardly walk and he said he felt like he was dying. On the Friday I rang 999 for another
ambulance which came urgently and I told them to take him to another hospital. I was so angry with the first
hospital ‘s discharge saying nothing about infection only saying if his heart gives out they will don’t. This made me
angry and them saying diabetic not managed. The second lot of paramedics had to get him off the floor because
his legs were like jelly and he slipped out of my hands. When they picked him up his was screaming and also he
had a couple of strokes and cannot use his left arm. They said he has infection and wanted to know if I had
antibiotics for him. I told them about everything and they said that he has an infection. Well I said he came out
with that and he should have had it cleared up. Also in the ward was some one who tested positive. So I have
had to get tested waiting for results . If I complain will the listen or just ignore it. I know the are very busy with
covid but they should not ignore the elderly. Sorry for the long note. I feel a bit better talking about it as I am
on my own .

 

[nae sporran]

Hullo and welcome to Talking Point @IrinaH. I have had a similar experience recently, so can totally sympathise with your and your husbands sad situation. It can't hurt to make an official complaint via the PALS service at the hospital just to highlight to them where their systems are failing. At my local hospital it takes about two months to get a reply, so be prepared for a wait.

 

[Zapped]

Hello Everyone,
I am a new member. my husband had infection ITU below, and he has vascular dementia from 2019. On the 25th
November, his diabetic was very high and he had pains everywhere. I called an ambulance and had Togo to the
hispital with him. He had loads of tests and the kept him in. He was there a week and he came back on Wednesday
without antibiotics He could hardly walk and he said he felt like he was dying. On the Friday I rang 999 for another
ambulance which came urgently and I told them to take him to another hospital. I was so angry with the first
hospital ‘s discharge saying nothing about infection only saying if his heart gives out they will don’t. This made me
angry and them saying diabetic not managed. The second lot of paramedics had to get him off the floor because
his legs were like jelly and he slipped out of my hands. When they picked him up his was screaming and also he
had a couple of strokes and cannot use his left arm. They said he has infection and wanted to know if I had
antibiotics for him. I told them about everything and they said that he has an infection. Well I said he came out
with that and he should have had it cleared up. Also in the ward was some one who tested positive. So I have
had to get tested waiting for results . If I complain will the listen or just ignore it. I know the are very busy with
covid but they should not ignore the elderly. Sorry for the long note. I feel a bit better talking about it as I am
on my own .

Hi, from my experience with my mum in hospital you really have to mention every symptom that you see to the doctors and nurses. And then ask repeatedly what they are doing about it. Speak to the nurse in charge of the ward and ask for meetings with doctor. If there are different specialists treating different ailments they don’t always pass info on to each other!!! Writing down what you want to ask beforehand and make notes of what they say they will do. The head nurse told me to keep asking as this is when you will get things done. It can be very tiring. And as already mentioned complain to PALS and then it is logged. I asked how to complain and this did work at getting mum physio when she broke her hip .
I hope he gets better soon.

 

[Grannie G]

This made me
angry and them saying diabetic not managed.

Hello @IrinaH

This was said about my husband too. I was upset and offended as you are. I was told the diabetes was `poorly managed` because the medication wasn`t working properly because of the dementia and not because I wasn`t taking care.
It is not a personal criticism. The dementia is preventing your husband's body to absorb the drugs efficiently.

 

[canary]

I think that dementia can reduce the bodys ability to fight off infections.
My OH has had numerous UTIs. He would be admitted into hospital, given IV antibiotics for a week, be sent home because the infection had gone, yet within days it would be back again and he would be re-admitted. I was told that probably there were just a couple of bugs left in his urine which were too few to pick up on tests and most peoples bodies could fight off - but OHs couldnt. Eventually he was give a constant low dose antibiotics to try and stave off infections and, so far, he has only had one.