my father in law recently went into respite and while he was in there he fell out of bed and ended up in hospital. the problem I am struggling with is that if this had happened at home we would have had district nurses social workers the whole shebang but it seems to be ok because it happened in respite even though they have more staff and trained staff. if it had happened at home they would have really been down on us so I dont know whether to take this further
respite fall
- Thread starter sleepingplum
- Start date
I don't think anybody would be "down on you" should the fall have happened at home, although I do understand that you must be feeling very upset about it.
Falls happen, not only to people with dementia, but older people generally whether they are alone, in hospital or have 24/7 care from their loved ones. MIL fell in her first week in her home as well - I suppose everything is unfamiliar. In her own home, she knew where to put her hands on bits of furniture to steady herself, but in a new environment...obviously not.
Should FIL need to go into respite care again, I would definitely make a point about what happened last time, and express your wish that they need to take precautions (ie: Lowered bed, crash mat (is that what you call them??) extra checks etc...)
Falls happen, not only to people with dementia, but older people generally whether they are alone, in hospital or have 24/7 care from their loved ones. MIL fell in her first week in her home as well - I suppose everything is unfamiliar. In her own home, she knew where to put her hands on bits of furniture to steady herself, but in a new environment...obviously not.
Should FIL need to go into respite care again, I would definitely make a point about what happened last time, and express your wish that they need to take precautions (ie: Lowered bed, crash mat (is that what you call them??) extra checks etc...)
Sadly falls in care homes happen all the time and they do get looked into, I think that Social Services Safeguarding have contacted me 3 times now about falls to see if I feel the home dealt with it properly.
Luckily we don't get too many people on respite, just the odd one every now and again and more than once they've ended up in A&E due to a fall, strange surroundings, night time disorientation or getting pushed over by one of the residents, there's really not much you can do about it.
I know the staff dislike respite residents as they're much more of a risk and an unknown quantity for them to deal with and as soon as you start to get to know them they've gone.
Care homes can't have someone sat in every room all night watching them so what's the alternative? My wife along with most of the other residents has a crash mat on the floor next to the bed with a pressure pad to alert the staff if she gets out of bed, but she has bed bumpers too and is incapably of getting out of bed anyway,
Respite can and does help many people on here and I've nothing against it but I (personally) feel that the respite residents are at more of a risk than the established residents.
K
Luckily we don't get too many people on respite, just the odd one every now and again and more than once they've ended up in A&E due to a fall, strange surroundings, night time disorientation or getting pushed over by one of the residents, there's really not much you can do about it.
I know the staff dislike respite residents as they're much more of a risk and an unknown quantity for them to deal with and as soon as you start to get to know them they've gone.
Care homes can't have someone sat in every room all night watching them so what's the alternative? My wife along with most of the other residents has a crash mat on the floor next to the bed with a pressure pad to alert the staff if she gets out of bed, but she has bed bumpers too and is incapably of getting out of bed anyway,
Respite can and does help many people on here and I've nothing against it but I (personally) feel that the respite residents are at more of a risk than the established residents.
K
I'm sorry to hear your FIL had a fall and is in hospital. I hope he will get thoroughly checked out and whatever treatment is appropriate.
It must be upsetting for what you thought was going to be a respite stay, to be interrupted with a fall and now a hospital stay. I know I would be distressed.
If he is not getting the care he needs in hospital, then of course you should advocate for that, and the PALS department might be of help, or the nurse manager/ward sister on the unit, or whatever doctor, consultant, or physician seems most competent and approachable.
Best wishes.
It must be upsetting for what you thought was going to be a respite stay, to be interrupted with a fall and now a hospital stay. I know I would be distressed.
If he is not getting the care he needs in hospital, then of course you should advocate for that, and the PALS department might be of help, or the nurse manager/ward sister on the unit, or whatever doctor, consultant, or physician seems most competent and approachable.
Best wishes.
when I said they would be down on us it is because we have had experience of this when he fell out of his old bed we had social workers occ health and ditrict nurses then fortunately he didn't hurt because his bed was close to the floor. his face was black and blue when he fell out of bed in rspite and he had to have his eyebrow glued
How long ago did this happen? I believe the care home has to inform social services of this type of incident as a safeguarding issue.
My mother is in a care home (permanent placement, not respite) and has had two falls while she's been there which required medical treatment, on the most recent occasion she broke her hip and spent 12 days in hospital. Both times the care home notified SS who rang me a few days after the event. SS run through the measures the care home have in place to prevent falls and ask if you have any concerns. I didn't have concerns as I know the care home have all appropriate measures in place, as Kevinl has said it's impossible to prevent falls happening.
My mother is in a care home (permanent placement, not respite) and has had two falls while she's been there which required medical treatment, on the most recent occasion she broke her hip and spent 12 days in hospital. Both times the care home notified SS who rang me a few days after the event. SS run through the measures the care home have in place to prevent falls and ask if you have any concerns. I didn't have concerns as I know the care home have all appropriate measures in place, as Kevinl has said it's impossible to prevent falls happening.