nursing home sending grandma to hospital without telling us

[fedupofpeppa]

After some advice please. My grandma is in a nursing home with severe dementia to the point she can't form sentences anymore let alone recognise anyone. She is partially blind and bedridden so frail and vulnerable.

We have given consent for day to day nursing and gp visits to occur however we recently found out that the gp had referred her to hospital as she has skin cancer. She has been to more than one hospital appointment and been diagnosed with cancer and no one at the home mentioned it to us. My mum and uncle share responsibility for her so I would have expected them to need to give consent for her to leave the home. Mum visits regularly but no one told her. They found out by chance because the gp wanted to know what mums decision was regarding operate or not and called her assuming she knew all this. We made a complaint at the time and we're told we would be kept informed.

Mum has just told me that yesterday grandma was taken to the hospital again but whatever it was for (duty manager wasn't sure if it was for surgery, pre op assessment or just consultant meeting) needed consent so it was a wasted trip. Again mum didn't know until the duty manager realised she hadn't been told after she had got back.

All of this makes me really really angry and uncomfortable. My grandma has conditions that make an operation high risk and so we woukd want to be sure hr conditions were known about by hospital staff. My uncle is raising a formal complaint but what can I do in the meantime to make sure this doesn't keep happening. Who should be responsible for telling my mum what's going on? No one seems to know and we are getting different stories.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[whataboutbob]

If your mum and uncle don't have power of attorney over health and welfare it could be argued the home does not need their permission to go ahead with hospital visits/ admission. However it does seem the communication has been poor, both between staff within the home , and between the home and your family. I would ask to speak with the manager of the home and also the senior nurse there. Then follow this up with a letter summarising the points and any agreement you made, make sure to keep a copy of the letter. Or send an email.
You could also contact the CQC for further guidance. It is good that you are being supportive of your mum, this must be stressful for her. Good luck.

[fedupofpeppa]

Thanks. I think they do have power of attorney but will check. I have told mum I will come with her to the home later today to speak to the manager and also to see the letters they have been sent by the hospital so we know exactly what is going on and when.

[25aylmer]

ooo that's terrible. They shouldn't be doing that, and actually I would tell the home you are going to contact the CQC... that will make them sit up and take notice. Definitely check if your mum and uncle have POA (I really hope so). If that's the case the home has crossed lots of lines. And the GP should know better too. The home should be calling next of kin any time they call the GP or dial 999. My aunt is in a home and has dementia. She has fallen a couple of times recently and the protocol is that they have to dial 999, and then they call me. The home knows that my aunt has an Advance Directive which says she doesn't want to be hospitalised for anything (well if she broke her leg/hip etc obviously we would get her admitted), but even so they have to call the paramedics, and they then have to fill in endless forms because she/we have 'refused treatment'. Complete waste of their time/money but as long as it keeps my elderly, confused aunt out of hospital where she would be scared, more confused and deteriorate fast, I don't mind. Its probably too late to get an Advance Directive for your granny, but anyone else reading this with elderly parents who have health issues, its REALLY worth it. This site has good advice on how to do it. www.agespace.org/finance-legal/legal-stuff/advance-directive-and-living-wills/