Enforced hospital discharge?

[wikurbia]

Hello I’m new to this my Dad having been diagnosed recently. He lives alone 250 miles away from me. He has to pay for care and before he went into hospital he was having 3 daytime visits and an overnight sleep in. This last is a short term emergency after his neighbours were fed up with being called out regularly at night when he fell. I am working with the care agency to install full time live in care but this won’t be available until late January. He was taken into hospital after a fall just before Christmas and diagnosed with a chest infection. I spent Christmas down there and he was discharged to my care initially until the carers could be re-instated. I told the hospital I was not happy that once I left for home he would be alone 12 hours a day but I was ignored. In the hour between me leaving (having provided continuous care) and the first carer coming in he had fallen and went back into hospital.

Today someone from the discharge team called and asked how quickly I could re-instate the existing care package when he is ready to discharge. I said I wouldn’t, which took her back a bit. I said I wasn’t happy with him going home until there was full time care, but she said he wouldn’t be staying in hospital until end Jan. He has a history of falls which only occur when he is left alone. Can they really insist that he leaves hospital? What comeback would I have if they did and he fell again? Why is the health and social care system in country so crazy? (That last one is rhetorical)

 

[Sirena]

As you cannot arrange for full time at-home care for a few weeks, could you arrange respite care in a care home - you seem to be saying he is self funding in which case that should be relatively easy to do. Obviously it isn't safe for him to go home with inadequate care, but it's understandable they want him off the ward as he has no medical needs, so a few weeks of respite in a care home could be the answer.

 

[karaokePete]

Hello @wikurbia, welcome to the forum.

I agree that if you are self funding that respite care would be an idea. To help you search for homes in your Dad’s area this is a link to a site where you can do a post code search. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the reviews as I only have experience of one home(for which the reviews seem accurate enough)

https://www.carehome.co.uk/

 

[Susan11]

Hello I’m new to this my Dad having been diagnosed recently. He lives alone 250 miles away from me. He has to pay for care and before he went into hospital he was having 3 daytime visits and an overnight sleep in. This last is a short term emergency after his neighbours were fed up with being called out regularly at night when he fell. I am working with the care agency to install full time live in care but this won’t be available until late January. He was taken into hospital after a fall just before Christmas and diagnosed with a chest infection. I spent Christmas down there and he was discharged to my care initially until the carers could be re-instated. I told the hospital I was not happy that once I left for home he would be alone 12 hours a day but I was ignored. In the hour between me leaving (having provided continuous care) and the first carer coming in he had fallen and went back into hospital.

Today someone from the discharge team called and asked how quickly I could re-instate the existing care package when he is ready to discharge. I said I wouldn’t, which took her back a bit. I said I wasn’t happy with him going home until there was full time care, but she said he wouldn’t be staying in hospital until end Jan. He has a history of falls which only occur when he is left alone. Can they really insist that he leaves hospital? What comeback would I have if they did and he fell again? Why is the health and social care system in country so crazy? (That last one is rhetorical)

I had the opposite experience ...they wouldn't let my Mum out of hospital with me to her home as I don't live there. They would provide respite care in a CH for 14 days till I found a CH place for her.

 

[wikurbia]

Hello I’m new to this my Dad having been diagnosed recently. He lives alone 250 miles away from me. He has to pay for care and before he went into hospital he was having 3 daytime visits and an overnight sleep in. This last is a short term emergency after his neighbours were fed up with being called out regularly at night when he fell. I am working with the care agency to install full time live in care but this won’t be available until late January. He was taken into hospital after a fall just before Christmas and diagnosed with a chest infection. I spent Christmas down there and he was discharged to my care initially until the carers could be re-instated. I told the hospital I was not happy that once I left for home he would be alone 12 hours a day but I was ignored. In the hour between me leaving (having provided continuous care) and the first carer coming in he had fallen and went back into hospital.

Today someone from the discharge team called and asked how quickly I could re-instate the existing care package when he is ready to discharge. I said I wouldn’t, which took her back a bit. I said I wasn’t happy with him going home until there was full time care, but she said he wouldn’t be staying in hospital until end Jan. He has a history of falls which only occur when he is left alone. Can they really insist that he leaves hospital? What comeback would I have if they did and he fell again? Why is the health and social care system in country so crazy? (That last one is rhetorical)

Hello I’m new to this my Dad having been diagnosed recently. He lives alone 250 miles away from me. He has to pay for care and before he went into hospital he was having 3 daytime visits and an overnight sleep in. This last is a short term emergency after his neighbours were fed up with being called out regularly at night when he fell. I am working with the care agency to install full time live in care but this won’t be available until late January. He was taken into hospital after a fall just before Christmas and diagnosed with a chest infection. I spent Christmas down there and he was discharged to my care initially until the carers could be re-instated. I told the hospital I was not happy that once I left for home he would be alone 12 hours a day but I was ignored. In the hour between me leaving (having provided continuous care) and the first carer coming in he had fallen and went back into hospital.

Today someone from the discharge team called and asked how quickly I could re-instate the existing care package when he is ready to discharge. I said I wouldn’t, which took her back a bit. I said I wasn’t happy with him going home until there was full time care, but she said he wouldn’t be staying in hospital until end Jan. He has a history of falls which only occur when he is left alone. Can they really insist that he leaves hospital? What comeback would I have if they did and he fell again? Why is the health and social care system in country so crazy? (That last one is rhetorical)

 

[wikurbia]

Short term respite care was the obvious solution so we had already been investigating that. We found a lovely dementia specialist care home a couple of miles from his house. They did insist on a minimum one month stay but had a bed available. The same day the hospital rang to say that they had done further investigations of the chest infection and he also has cancer. They said that they could discuss treatment and care face to face. So I drove down on Friday. When I got there a doctor came to see me at my Dad's bedside on an open ward and confirmed the diagnosis. She then said that she couldn't discuss the care and treatment plan because there would be a multi disciplinary meeting next week to arrange that. I asked if the multidisciplinary team would include a dementia specialist, she looked a bit nonplussed then agreed it would. She then told me that my Dad would be discharged on Monday or Tuesday and would come back for any treatment as an outpatient. And added that my Dad had stated that he didn't want to go into a nursing home and they would respect that wish so would not discharge him to one. According to his record "The daughter expressed her concern." In fact I said that I washed my hands of the situation. If they wanted to discharge him then they would have to make all the arrangements, including with a private care provider themselves. I would have no part in placing him in what I regarded as an unsafe situation and safeguarding him was their responsibility not mine.
I have come home so as to be strategically unavailable to provide care.

 

[molliep]

Hi @wikurbia,

Macmillan Dementia Nurse Lorraine Burgess is hosting a Q&A on Talking Point on Wednesday if it's of interest to you? She supports people with both dementia and cancer and their families with one-to-one help, post-diagnostic education, advice on future planning and emotional support; and works alongside cancer specialists and nursing staff helping them to understand the needs of those with dementia and cancer so she has a lot of experience of the two.

If you have anything you'd like to ask her about you can email your question to talkingpoint@alzheimers.org.uk or comment it on the Q&A thread here: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/thr...-–-wednesday-30th-january-2-30-3-30pm.113825/

Hope it's helpful to you.

Best wishes,
Mollie