Elderly care

[Oma]

My elderly neighbour Robert was taken into hospital again two weeks ago ,
He has a bowel blockage and infection,so he is delirious.

He is in a side ward,
On Friday he had tried to get out of bed , fallen cracking his head and they didn't find him for over a hour,
He has a hairline fracture and a bleed on the brain .
The hospital has taken full responsibility and admitted he wasn't checked on.

I have just spent a couple of hours with Chris his wife of 66 years and she's heartbroken how he is being treated,

Her DSs have demanded a meeting with consultants and hospital management,
They are livid and want answers,
Accidents happen but to be left lying on the floor for over a hour without help is unacceptable especially as they admitted that his door was open so they could keep an eye on him.
Clearly that didn't happen .

What is happening with the care of our elderly, awful isn't it.

[Daisy]

Oma, what an awful thing to happen to your poor neighbour. No wonder his wife is heartbroken.

[Oma]

Shocking isn't it Daisy , so sad they are so sweet and kind , I felt so sorry for her , she had a good cry but I managed to make her laugh before o left .

[Lizzie48]

Daisy, it is shocking, when my sister was in the hospital, during covid, she fell going to the toilet and banged her head, no one to help her. I won't start on the treatment she never received, at all!

[Oma]

Lizzie
It's happening everywhere,
Robert is such a nice old man worked hard all his life and this is how he is being cared for.
I know hospitals are short staffed , but surely someone passed his room with a open door and seen him .

[Daisy]

Oma, sad to say it is happening everywhere. My DS1 was in his local hospital at one stage, on a general ward in a bay for 4 beds but with 6 crammed in. I won't go into all the horrors he, and we saw, but there was a very frail, elderly gentleman in a bed opposite. His family visited all the time, and on his birthday they brought in balloons and birthday banners to decorate his cubicle. I wasn't there the day he passed away, but my DIL said his family were with him, but there was barely room for one chair by the bed, the curtains were totally inadequate and the rest of the ward was noisy and busy. Even in his last moments there was no peace or dignity for him.

That shouldn't happen.

[Oma]

That's sad Daisy,
You would think they would have at least one family room for the dying wouldn't you.
There is never enough chairs either
I have lost count. Of the times when B or MIL has been in hospital and I have had to go chair hunting .

[Daisy]

It was so cramped there wasn't room for one chair without it encroaching on the next bed's space. It was like a war zone hospital with not even basic cleanliness.

[Oma]

That was what it was like when MIL was in after her hip operation and we had to fight to get her moved,
The ward was a 6 bed ward but they had 8 in ,
It stank, elderly people with dementia not getting cleaned and staff that didn't care.

Every time she has been in since we have told them she is not to be put in that ward.

[Sum1Ls]

It’s a national scandal. And it seems, a two tier service. I have to say that the treatment I had after my accident was second to none, so has the continuing treatment for my eye problems at King’s. And so was T’s treatment four years ago when he was in hospital for a week.

But, if you’re old and frail, and particularly if you have no family to advocate for you, things can go horribly wrong. My dear neighbour died in an overcrowded and noisy ward at the local hospital. They kept her pain free and safe but it’s no way to end your last days.

Money seems to be directed to high profile diseases, and, I’m afraid, those who seem to shout the loudest.

Hospices which are the proper place for end of life are massively underfunded, and when the very old are in hospital for ‘routine’ matters, the care is sadly, often ‘careless’ and offhand. Recruiting staff for elderly care is difficult and there is far too much reliance on agency staff who are not committed. The entire sector needs much more funding but we need to pay for it. And just listen to the outcry when taxes are raised. There are so many competing claims and it’s a poisoned chalice managing them.

My heart breaks for your neighbour Oma. I just hope it won’t be the usual ‘lessons will be learned’ response.

And I think all of us here have big fears about our own care when the time comes.

[Oma]

Sum1
After MILs fall and breaking her hip, she was left in bed no moving no care ,
We went in and this feisty fiery woman was lying there giving up.
I said to B if we don't do something she is going to die.
We rang his brother and sisters and had a discussion,
His brother came with us to the hospital the next day and demanded to see consultant,
None of us had been able to speak to a Dr ,
The outcome was they transferred her to a local rehab centre,

Within a week she had her spark back was on her feet and eating well.
She spent a month in there and the care was amazing,
Nothing was a trouble to them and they even coped with MILs attitude.😁

[Daisy]

The ward my DS1 was in suffered serious neglect and mismanagement. Full urinals were lined up on a ledge until there was no room for more, the curtains were dirty, and stained with goodness knows what, spills (of any kind) were left to dry on the floor, and worst of all a Consultant prescribed DS a medication which was dangerous with a drug he was already taking and which the Consultant had never even heard of. Drinks would be left out of reach, any natural light from the windows was blocked by a portakabin parked outside. Even the little drug cabinets over the beds had been installed upside down so were hard for staff to reach, but were in danger of hitting the patient's head. Confused patients were left to wander round, not able to find their way back to their beds.

My DIL wrote a detailed email to senior management (as a Town Councillor) and the next morning the most senior management were on the ward, dealing with the problems. Sadly, Sum1, if there is no-one to advocate for you it is frightening.

In contrast, I cannot fault the treatment I am receiving at both our main and our local hospital. The staff are busy, overstretched even, but all always kind, gentle, professional and cheerful.

Oma, what a contrast in the care your MIL received.

[Gemini]

I feel that we were fortunate, if you can use such a word in this context, that my mum was admitted to A and E and passed away there within a few hours in a side room. I am glad she never made it to the elderly care ward. She was moved after couple of hours from cubicles to her own room. We could be with her whenever we wanted and she passed away peacefully.

I was never that happy with the care my dad received on the elderly care ward. I felt he was much better when he was on the general ward for few days before that. Younger men looked out for him and got staffs attention for him when he couldn't. Not their job of course but it was kind that they did.

Daisy, the staff on the oncology ward when DD3 has been spending time, are lovely, especially the nurses.
Some of the rooms are too crowded though, with little space and privacy for those undergoing intense inpatient chemo treatments and feeling awful.

[Oma]

We can't fault the care B had on the oncology ward at Sunderland Royal or at the Freeman's,

It seems to be elderly care that is lacking ,
My elderly neighbour is in Queen Elizabeth at Gateshead so same problems across the board.

[Daisy]

Gem, I think over crowding is a serious problem. Patients get no privacy or proper rest and patient care must be so much harder for the nurses. Undergoing intense treatment like that is bad enough, but the noise and busyness of cramped wards makes it impossible for patients to relax.

I've been fortunate enough to be on day wards with comfortable chairs rather than beds, and although it's busy it's not overcrowded or very noisy.

I think one of the many problems in the dreadful ward my DS1 was on was that it was a general ward. Patients' needs were very different, from frail, elderly and confused, to a young lad who'd had a diabetes hypo, a middle-aged man with problems related to morbid obesity and my DS who didn't actually need to be in hospital.