My Mum is in a care home close to where my brother lives but 200 miles away from where I live. My brother cannot stand any form of confrontation so even though he visits Mum once a week he does not raise any issues with the care home, leaving it for me to do, long distance. Mum has early stage dementia and can get confused but on the whole, mentally is not too bad. She has on-going issues with a catheter which pretty much has destroyed her quality of life and she is now getting nervous about my brother taking her out in case she has an `accident`, which is ruining the day out for her. She could have an operation but my brother and I have backed off from that previously because of her age etc but as the situation with the catheter gets worse - it continually by-passes meaning she is in wet clothes; causes her to be bowel incontinent., etc then we have decided to re-assess the situation and as we have POA may decide that she should have the op. At the weekend the situation with the catheter deteriorated significantly and it dropped out (according to Mum) and she was in pain and there was water everywhere. Apparently a nurse came and re-inserted it. However the care home hasn`t informed us of this fact or that it is continually bypassing. We get all this information from Mum. I`m assuming that the care home should be informing us of the issues and also recording all the info about the catheter on Mum`s notes but am I legally entitled to see their notes? If I can see the notes, this will give my brother and I, the relevant information to see whether the issues with the catheter are so regular that we really need to sit down and decide whether an operation is necessary.
DISCLOSURE OF MUM`S NOTES BY HER CARE HOME
- Thread starter ChrissieM
- Start date
Hi @ChrissieM, that is a worry. Your brother doesn't need to confront the care home, just ask for a meeting with the manager and relevant staff to discuss the problems surrounding the catheter. Before you make any decisions you need their input as to the problems your mum is having. It could be for instance that your mum pulls it out and forgets she's done so. Unless you discuss it with them you won't really know what is happening. If he feels he can't maybe you can set up a meeting via zoom, whatsapp or similar to chat the whole thing though.
I'm sure others that have been in similar situations will be along with their input shortly.
I'm sure others that have been in similar situations will be along with their input shortly.
Hi @ChrissieM, is your mum in a care home or a nursing home? My understanding of the insertion of urinary catheters is that they are usually inserted by a qualified nurse or doctor if the catheter is an indwelling one. If the home is not a nursing home with suitably qualified staff then I would expect the district nurses to be involved. If the district nurses are involved they may be able to give you more information than the home.
As Sarasa said you do need to be asking the home to clarify both how it is coming out but also when/ how it is inserted.
Urinary catheters normally cannot cause bowel problems. The usual process is that a person either becomes constipated, the enlarged bowels press on the bladder and the ureter and then cause continence issues, or germs transfer onto the catheter more easily if a person has diarrhoea and causes urine infections, pain etc.
I would be asking questions about your mums bowel habits and try and get that problem settled first, or you will have continuing difficulty with the catheter.
If your mum has IBS with alternating constipation and diarrhoea then it is very important to maintain her fluid intake and try to normalise her bowels. Daily linseed starting at 1 tablespoon daily spread on food eg breakfast cereals ( it can be increased up to 3 daily if the response is poor but needs to be done over a couple of months) is a good way to help settle things down without adding further tablets.
As Sarasa said you do need to be asking the home to clarify both how it is coming out but also when/ how it is inserted.
Urinary catheters normally cannot cause bowel problems. The usual process is that a person either becomes constipated, the enlarged bowels press on the bladder and the ureter and then cause continence issues, or germs transfer onto the catheter more easily if a person has diarrhoea and causes urine infections, pain etc.
I would be asking questions about your mums bowel habits and try and get that problem settled first, or you will have continuing difficulty with the catheter.
If your mum has IBS with alternating constipation and diarrhoea then it is very important to maintain her fluid intake and try to normalise her bowels. Daily linseed starting at 1 tablespoon daily spread on food eg breakfast cereals ( it can be increased up to 3 daily if the response is poor but needs to be done over a couple of months) is a good way to help settle things down without adding further tablets.
Thank you both for your input. I have now heard from the care home with dates of `incidents`. Mum has a community nurse that comes out twice a week to carry out a bladder wash to try and prevent infections etc so she is having to have invasive treatment twice a week, plus endure all the issues with the catheter. The care home has now arranged to use larger leg bags to try and ensure the catheter doesn`t by-pass. I am going to forward `chapter and verse` to Mum`s consultant for his further advice. I`ll keep you posted and thank you again for your useful input.
