I'm posting this here becasue, well, I need to get it all out..
When I got to the UK I went straight to the hospital to find that 3 days later, they still hadn't read her second x ray. However, as I said before, when they did get round to it, nothing was broken, so it turned into a massive struggle to get her out. The most shocking thing I found was that she was covered, absolutely covered, with welts and bleeding scratches because she had a massive attack of itching. I hot footed it to the nursing station where I was told "Oh yes, we could arrange for a dematology consult if you'd like"??!! Yes I most certainly WOULD like. Strangely, her notes at the bottom of the bed indicated that her skin was "normal"! It took several days to set that up, and although they prescribed a different cream for her, I suspect that it was an allergic reaction to something in their laundry - it didn't really start to calm down until retuned home. Anyway, as from the 22nd, she had a note above her bed to say that she was orthopedically ready to be discharge. However, several days elapsed before the PT department started to get her to move, and by that time, they decided she needed a psychology consult because "she's sleeping a lot". So wait, wait, wait. On the 26th, when the consult still hadn't happened I said "why not do this as an outpatient?" Oh yes that might be an idea, was the reply. Then we had the weekend, when nothing happens. Monday, I again suggested that the psychology consult might take place on an outpatient basis.
By this time, I had also discovered that whoever had filled out her falls assessment had got it totally wrong - no visual impairment (she has cataracts, macular degeneration, and lost half her visual field to the strokes), no medication issues (she's on so many meds she should rattle when she moves), no dementia (did they talk to her?), and most appalling of all, that she hadn't been admitted as a result of a fall (excuse me, why was she in there then), resulting in the diagnosis of low fall risk. I was, as you can imagine beside my self with irritation. Finally got that rewritten, and also pointed out that one of the issues was that being able to use a walker safely when a PT was instracting her, was not the same as remembering how to use a walker safely on her own. Also, what about the falling out of bed? Tuesday, I called the hopital to make an appointment with her consultant, and Wednesday, I got a call to say she was being discharged. Call me cynical, but this is exactly what happened last time - called the consultant (never spoke to him) and suddenly, she's discharged. Coincidence or what? However the falling out of bed issue hadn't been addressed, at least not with me. The next day, I got a call from the pyschology outreach - the only sensible person I spoke to in the entire episode. Why had she been referred I ask - because she was sleeping a lot, and they thought she might be depressed. Are you aware that she's on anti-depressants? No, ward staff hadn't mentioned that. Is it uncommon for an 89 year old stroke victim to spend a lot of time sleeping? No it's not. Why had it taken almost a week to get a consult? Because the left hand down't know what the right hand is doing and no one had bothered to send the email asking for the consult until the Wednesday she was discharged. £500 a day for a hospital bed for over 6 days because they "forgot" to send the email. Is it any wonder that the NHS is in financial difficulties? Incidentally, she also told me that there was supposed to be a named key-worker to follow each patient throught the system but this was news to me. While this was going on she essentially stopped eating, except what I gave her. Oh special note - when she wouldn't eat, one of the auxilliaries (I got this from the woman in the bed opposite who was an ex-social worker and who took all these frail elderly patient under her wing) said "she's just putting it on" Isn't that great? Of course, not eating meant that her blood values went haywire, so that had to be stabilized.
Call me frustrated.
Jennifer