Walking aids and carehome removing it .

supporter1

Registered User
Sep 14, 2012
219
0
Ok I have not been on here for a while ( things have sort of been ok).

Dad is 91 now bless him and getting really quite frail as you can imagine. He lives in the moment as he has no short term memory at all and for the most part is fairly confused most of the time but still manages to communicate, he is still fairly independent around the care home)

. He recently had a fall and injured his arm ( thankfully no breaks) . His mobility is 'just' ok and he uses the hand rails in the residential home to get about. He does have a walking stick sometimes. He had his own but that was taken off him when he first went in several years ago as he hit other residents when he was in his state of emotional turmoil. He is for the most part quite calm now but very occasionally he can still have a little irritation towards other residents that moan a lot. I have not witnessed it BUT I know dad and that fits with his personality.

Ok .. the issue of the walking stick. he needs it for his mobility now. 99% of the time he is fine ( calm .. sleeps most of the time and is not a bit of bother) but the care home take his stick away and say he has to manage with just the hand rails but to my mind that is just cruel now.

He is choosing not to walk around much now because he is getting frightened without a walking stick. I think they are not handling this particularly well to be honest. We as a family have asked repeated for a mobility assessment for aids and it is falling on deaf ears ( reaching point of asking for a private physio to go in and work with my dad to get him moving.. not sure how feasible that is but may explore that option) .

Any way I thought I would post on here to get other opinions as to whether I am being unreasonable or not .. I dont think so but maybe I am wrong ? I could do with a few responses as I dont want to create waves if I am out of order and being unrealisic in my expectation that they should be encouraging independence and managing the occasional issue with dad.

I feel very unsure how to manage this situation.
 

Izzy

Volunteer Moderator
Aug 31, 2003
74,000
0
72
Dundee
Would they be able to give him a walking frame rather than a stick? Just a thought.

I think you should certainly insist on a talk with the manager about your dad's mobility and what can be done to keep him safe.
 

tigerlady

Registered User
Nov 29, 2015
427
0
You are not unreasonable to want your father to continue to be mobile. When my mother was in a home, she went in with a walking stick, but it was taken from her due to a policy of "no sticks" as another resident hit people with them and she took sticks from others to do this. However my mother was provided with a walking frame, but I cant remember if the home arranged this, or my sister. If I can find out later, I will post again.

The home my husband is in allows walking sticks, and my husband actually does not really need one, although he has a painful knee and does like to use one sometimes. As he kept pinching another residents stick, the resident's wife asked me to get my husband a similar stick, which I did, but after incidents where he threatened staff and other residents with it, it was taken off him, and put in his wardrobe in his room, so it was there to bring out to persuade him to give the other residents stick back if he pinched it again.

I think if the home are unable or unwilling to provide a frame, you should be able to go to the NHS for one. I am not sure if they are provided free, but an occupational therapist should be consulted to get it the right height.
 

dora

Registered User
Aug 1, 2007
152
0
England
Ok .. the issue of the walking stick. he needs it for his mobility now. .... We as a family have asked repeated for a mobility assessment for aids and it is falling on deaf ears ( reaching point of asking for a private physio to go in and work with my dad to get him moving.. not sure how feasible that is but may explore that option) .

If your dad has proved that he is at risk of falls, he needs a falls assessment by a physio or OT. Could you ask his GP directly to refer him, rather than going through the home?
There may well be a long waiting list for this, so you could certainly get the assessment privately. My FIL pays for weekly physio to sustain his mobility as the NHS only fund 6 weeks and he needs ongoing therapy. There is a physio who is associated with his care home, so they see several people when they visit.

This is a reliable website for finding a physio.

http://www.csp.org.uk/your-health/find-physio/physio2u
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
This is a perfectly reasonable request and expectation. The home should keep your father safe but also as independent as possible. They shouldn't take away one aid without replacing it with another. A frame would be an obvious solution but there may be other solutions so I would write a note to the Manager - they can't ignore things in writing - by email perhaps? saying that you want him to remain mobile, you feel that the home needs to be encouraging his independence and his mobility and that you would like him assessed asap to see how he can be helped.

Time is important as he will quickly lose mobility (much more convenient for the home of course!!) and so if you can't get somewhere quickly with it I would go privately. Sports centres often have very good physios attached.
 

Shedrech

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
12,649
0
UK
Hi supporter1
I am really puzzled by the care home's reactions
Dad is in a home and each resident has what s/he needs to keep as mobile as possible - yes, there are hand rails but these aren't suitable for all or enough for all, sticks are available, frames with and without wheels and wheelchairs - dad has a 3 wheeler 'shopping trolley' we took in for him
some residents take others' sticks, and the staff look out for this and deal with it - once in a while a stick is brandished around and again the staff deal with that situation, so a resident may have a stick taken from them to resolve that incident but not 'forever'
a walking frame may well suit him, so why aren't they looking into this?
I'd be having a chat with the manager especially saying that your dad is becoming frightened of walking which may lead to falls and 'surely they don't want to be responsible for this'
 

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