Just wanted to share with you the experiences of this last weekend. My father 81 spent a short spell in hospital and came out catheterised pending an operation. No consideration or assessment was made of his ability to cope on his own at home as a consequence we, his two children were left to look after changing and emptying bags and overseeing the correct use of them. Neither of us were shown how to do this by the hospital and nor was my father discharged with any supply of additional equipment, which apparently he should have been. After 24 hours it became apparent that he could not cope on his own and would need additional care which neither of us could provide. So it was that we had to spend Sunday looking for a care home which could and would accept him at short notice. Having found one we then had to cope with the trauma of persuading him that we had no other option and that he could not cope with the situation in any other way. His GP's only offer of help was a sick note to get us out of having to work so that we could support his decision to remain at home. Even though he had AD he is still considered organised enough to make his own decisions on his personal care. He was successfully admitted to a care home at 1pm on Monday just in time for us to get back to our work and we can only hope now that the operation he is waiting for is not too long coming and that the home will prove comfortable enough for him and suited to his needs. Only time will tell. How grateful we are to the staff of the hospital for helping us to make this life changing decision in such a hurry. I only hope that no one else has to face this position although I somehow know that it will not be an isolated incident.
Rob.
Rob.
