Mum has eye infection but is 'declining' eye drops

[florri55]

Hi everyone
I am new to this forum having taken the time to read a lot of the posts and found everyone to be so supportive.

My mum is in the last stages of dementia, having been diagnosed 6 years ago. She has been in a care home for the past 2 years and is what I can only describe as 'existing' ie she has no quality of life whatsoever and I know she is approaching the end of her life. She is receiving excellent 24/7 care and the staff are wonderful and I am very happy with how she is looked after.

However I do get frustrated with some of the rules and regulations they have to adhere to which in my opinion is not in my mums best interests. Today I visited and found she had an eye infection so I spoke to the Team Leader and expressed my concern. I was informed the doctor had prescribed eye drops but when they tried to put these into my mums eyes, she brushed them away - the word they used was declined. My mum of course had no idea what she was 'declining'. I then asked for the drops and managed to put them in myself even though she did try to brush me away. It caused her no distress whatsoever.

Apparently the staff are not allowed to do anything that is considered covert or against my mums wishes. Can anyone suggest how I can resolve this please? If my mum needs eye drops then as far as I am concerned, they should administer them.

Short of going in twice a day myself to do this, I am at a loss to understand what else I can do.

Florri x

 

[fizzie]

I'm sure they can, they give covert medication all the time in care homes so I don't understand what they are talking about. Presumably your mother doesn't have capacity and therefore has a DoLS and the documentation associated with keeping her safe - part of keeping her safe is ensuring that she has prescribed medication!!!! I should have a word with the GP if he is accessible and if the Manager still refuses to budge then you will need to contact adult safeguarding at your local adult social services and report it and ask them to act urgently. She really needs the meds because eye infections can be so painful and distressing, can you go in twice a day until you get it sorted. It seems ridiculous and makes me question why a home is not administering covert medication - sounds like rather a big hiccough!! Good luck with this, how stressful for you xxx

 

[theunknown]

You need to find out if there is a Deprivation of Liberty order for your mum. There is one for my mum because she's in a locked unit, not able to go outside that environment without the required safeguards. Is your mum in a secure unit? Not everybody with dementia necessarily is.

Edited to add that I know you believe your mum's coming to the end of her life, but it's all about ticking boxes these days for public social and medical organisations. For those who have real compassion for those they're caring for, it must be a nightmare.

 

[Beate]

I really hope OH never gets an eye infection. He won't ever let me put drops in. The GP prescribed artificial tears for his dry eyes but no dice, he squeezes his eyes firmly shut. I had to buy one of those mist sprays you can spray on closed eyes as they are not on the prescription list. Not sure how you can get eye drops in covertly, but really, you can't force people to keep their eyes open. My GP actually suggested to put the drops in while he is sleeping! How would you like it to have your eyes prised open when you're sleeping?

 

[canary]

Actually, Beate, putting drops in peoples eyes while they are asleep is something that is often suggested by eye clinics (especially for children) as the muscles that squeeze the eyes tight shut are relaxed during sleep and it is easier to open the eyes and put in the drops. You just have to make sure that they are sound asleep.

 

[Beate]

If you can do that without waking someone up, fair enough. I wouldn't feel confident enough but I guess the care home staff could try it.

 

[florri55]

Eye Drops

If you can do that without waking someone up, fair enough. I wouldn't feel confident enough but I guess the care home staff could try it.

Many thanks - I managed to get up every day to put in drops and now cleared up.

 

[fizzie]

Well done you Florri xx

 

[fizzie]

I really hope OH never gets an eye infection. He won't ever let me put drops in. The GP prescribed artificial tears for his dry eyes but no dice, he squeezes his eyes firmly shut. I had to buy one of those mist sprays you can spray on closed eyes as they are not on the prescription list. Not sure how you can get eye drops in covertly, but really, you can't force people to keep their eyes open. My GP actually suggested to put the drops in while he is sleeping! How would you like it to have your eyes prised open when you're sleeping?

lol i suppose that did sound pretty stupid but I too was thinking of night time which is surprisingly easy - if mum was finding life challenging we used all sorts of ploys lol

 

[tweetypie]

This may help some people with the problem of an eye infection.

You can make your own solution - I use it for me and my kids and animals!

It's brilliant for conjunctivitus

Put a little table salt in a bowl and add boiling water to dissolve the salt, stir with a teaspoon.

Add a little cold water to bring down the too hot temperature and put on a some cotton wool, squeese it out - so water doesn't splurge everywhere!

Some people prefer something a bit warm - they find it not such a shock as cold drops or whatever and may even find it soothing and welcome it.

You can use it for a few hours and use cold as well or throw away and make fresh every time.

If the infection isn't getting better within 24 hours, use a bit more salt.

I've found this "recipe" brilliant over the years.

 

[Slugsta]

The advice in the previous post can be helpful - although I would amend it to 'if no better after 24 hours, contact a GP'!

If you are going to bathe the eye area, use a fresh piece of cotton wool for each wipe and always work from the inside corner of the eye outwards.