Mum has recently gone into a care home. Dad, after three months of endless phone calls to the health centre, has finally taken delivery of three large boxes of incontinence pants, which he's told have to last mum to october (seems outrageous that you can pay £700/wk for care AND have to supply the incontinence stuff, but that's another issue) - this works out, according to him, at 2.18 pairs/day.
When she was at home, mum was getting through about 2-3 pairs a day. She would never express the need to go to the loo, and if asked would always say she didn't want to go - the only way to keep her mostly dry was to simply state that it was time to go to the toilet, and she'd go along and do so, with help.
In the care home, she is now going through 10 pairs of pants a day. It seems to me that this can only be because she's not being taken to the loo on a regular basis (she has also developed a habit of going round drinking other people's tea, which no doubt doesn't help the situation). The care home staff keep saying they'll see to it, make sure she's taken to the loo regularly, but it just doesn't seem to happen - they seem to just wait until she's wet and then change her (which one would think would cause more work for them, but what do I know?)
Obviously this is not a good situation: first of all, mum sitting around wet all day and therefore potentially at risk of a UTI (not to mention the unpleasantness of being wet, although it's possible mum doesn't notice); and secondly, at this rate, she'll run out of pants in a matter of weeks, and then dad will be forced to supply more - and since they cost about a pound a pair, 10 a day would equate to £70 a week just on pads, which is clearly completely unacceptable on top of the care home fees.
Has anyone else had this situation? Any advice on how to deal with it beyond going on and on at the staff?
When she was at home, mum was getting through about 2-3 pairs a day. She would never express the need to go to the loo, and if asked would always say she didn't want to go - the only way to keep her mostly dry was to simply state that it was time to go to the toilet, and she'd go along and do so, with help.
In the care home, she is now going through 10 pairs of pants a day. It seems to me that this can only be because she's not being taken to the loo on a regular basis (she has also developed a habit of going round drinking other people's tea, which no doubt doesn't help the situation). The care home staff keep saying they'll see to it, make sure she's taken to the loo regularly, but it just doesn't seem to happen - they seem to just wait until she's wet and then change her (which one would think would cause more work for them, but what do I know?)
Obviously this is not a good situation: first of all, mum sitting around wet all day and therefore potentially at risk of a UTI (not to mention the unpleasantness of being wet, although it's possible mum doesn't notice); and secondly, at this rate, she'll run out of pants in a matter of weeks, and then dad will be forced to supply more - and since they cost about a pound a pair, 10 a day would equate to £70 a week just on pads, which is clearly completely unacceptable on top of the care home fees.
Has anyone else had this situation? Any advice on how to deal with it beyond going on and on at the staff?