Hmmm. I can identify with some of this. Mum had a sore bottom (very sore, between the cheeks), the home was very quick to get the doctor (I had no knowledge of this), so that is a plus point. She was prescribed an hydrocortisone cream for a fungal infection, but no supervision was giving in the application, she applied too much (it should be very sparingly, mum thought the more the merrier) and ended up with a worse sore bottom. The doctor was called again (at my request, and came pretty fast, day after I asked), and prescribed a less severe cream, and the staff applied it for her. She seems to have recovered from that.
Washing. Hmm. There seems to be no system for residents to deposit their washing anywhere, so I keep taking mum a supermarket carrier bag and telling her to leave it by the door. That said, after two weeks, she had put nothing in it. I went through her drawers and found soiled knickers (mum had a bowel problem early in her stay), tights, and absolutely no outer clothes at all, no jumpers or tops. In the hospital previously, they were washing things that I didn't think were necessary, i.e. a quick sponge down would do, but in the home nothing like that is washed. Plus they insist that everything is able to be tumble dried - well it probably is, but it doesn't say so on the label. So I have been taking things home to wash. Mum doesn't seem upset by this, so I am not worried. But I do think they should check on outer clothes as well as underwear - and I am not aware that they check on anything. What would happen if I wasn't around?
Strange clothes have appeared in her wardrobe, not hers, and some of hers have gone missing despite being clearly labelled with her name.
Falls etc. I've never mentioned it, but I'd want to be informed about absolutely anything and everything that affects my mum. Some of you might have read my earlier threads that say I have absolutely no affinity or relationship with my mum, and I don't, but she is my mum, she has only me to look after her, and I will do it whether I want to or not. Well, I do want to. My dad (died 2004) would want me to, and I will do it for him - funny, though, I am now getting to like her, is that odd? I am becoming protective of her, I am pleased about that.
I definitely want to be told about falls. My mother in law went into hospital after a major stroke in 2004, and two days later we visited to find her head covered in blood. I went to ask the staff. "Oh, yes, she fell out of bed. We consulted the Neurosurgeon and he said she was oka". Sorry. A Neurosurgeon was involved and we weren't even told. I am still not happy that she was ALLOWED to fall out of bed following a stroke, it still haunts me that the poor woman experienced that.
Eh, we have to be on our toes, don't we?
What happens to those poor people with no relatives nearby, or as is the case with one lady in my mum's home - no relatives? There is another lady, who I know is a local person cos I used to work with her brother in law, and I have never seen a visitor for her at all. Never in 6 weeks.
Keep going everyone.
Margaret