Safety in nursing home

[Jkw]

My dad went into a nursing home in February this year with vascular dementia as mum was unable to cope with his care. He had numerous incidents where he attacked other patients after wandering into their rooms and a month ago was moved into another care home which we were told that was more secure and better equipped for patients who were a danger both to themselves and to others. He had been given CHC so we are not paying for his care now. We weren't given any choice in his new care home but even if we did there isn't another one close enough for my mum to visit.
Already in the new home there have been two quite serious incidents one where he was hurt and one where he hurt another patient. We are so concerned that the home doesn't seem to be able to monitor him closely enough to stop him wandering into other peoples rooms and because he thinks that it is his room he gets aggressive and someone ends up hurt. The home have put an alarm on his door so they know when he is leaving his room but the bottom line is that these incidents happen late at night with two members of staff on duty and sometimes both of them are busy with other patients. They have his name on his door too.
If he gets kicked out of this home he will be sectioned which we really want to try to avoid. The home are saying that the incidents were very unfortunate but I get the impression that they see this as normal.
Is there anything that we can do? Can we ask for extra staff to keep an eye on him in the evening. We are so scared that either he is going to really hurt someone or that he himself will end up injured.

 

[jaymor]

If you are looking for more help for your Father then you need to contact CHC. They are providing the funds to cover your Father's care and are paying for the level of care he receives at this moment and that is also the level they assessed him to need.

Give them a call and voice your concerns. If he needs 1:1 care then they will have to pay the home to employ someone to be with him all the time or for certain hours during a 24 hour period.

My husband entered his nursing home with CHC with 12 hour 1:1 care. He now receives 24 hour 1:1 because the care home asked for him to be reassessed by CHC.

The care home won't pay for extra care and if there are only two staff on at night then there is no one spare to help.

Good luck,

Jay

 

[Jkw]

If you are looking for more help for your Father then you need to contact CHC. They are providing the funds to cover your Father's care and are paying for the level of care he receives at this moment and that is also the level they assessed him to need.

Give them a call and voice your concerns. If he needs 1:1 care then they will have to pay the home to employ someone to be with him all the time or for certain hours during a 24 hour period.

My husband entered his nursing home with CHC with 12 hour 1:1 care. He now receives 24 hour 1:1 because the care home asked for him to be reassessed by CHC.

The care home won't pay for extra care and if there are only two staff on at night then there is no one spare to help.

Good luck,

Jay

Thank you so much for posting that advice - I will look into that x

 

[Kevinl]

To be fair to the care homes they are dealing with people with dementia and in some this can cause them to become aggressive. It must be like being a pub landlord on a Saturday night dealing with drunks, you know there is always the possibility of violence and any little thing can cause it to kick off without warning.
What options are there for the homes, keep them all locked up all the time? Unfortunately the nature of the condition makes some people behave unpredictable other than one on one care what else can they do?
K

 

[FifiMo]

If this is predominantly about your dad wandering into the wrong rooms, then is there something that can be done to help him identify his own room? Just putting his name on his door is not likely to solve the problem - in fact it is the least helpful (cheapest) thing to do. You could try adding his picture to the door; putting some baloons on it; tie brightly coloured ribbons to the door handle, that type of thing. In my mothers care home we also had a bright pink faux fur throw and cushion that became her means of identifying her room when the door was open and she was wandering back along the corridor on her own.

Ultimately, it will be for the home and the CHC to find a solution and if this means 121 care then that is what should be provided. This shouldn't be for your to pursue. The care home should be proactive in making sure their residents are safe including your dad and they should be contacting the CHC on his behalf.

Fiona