My mum has advanced heart failure but lives at home alone with no carers, is housebound but manages quite well. I live about 5hrs drive from her but she has one other relative nearby who helps out if needed.
Last week she was admitted to hospital because her heart rate was too slow. She phoned her other relative to let her know she was going to hospital and sounded ok, just fed up.
Since then her mental state has gone downhill. When her relative visited her a couple of days after admission, mum thought she was at home. A day later she was in another country!
Mum talked about how she'd been out to the shops with a nice man and lots of other nonsense.
Mum's relative spoke to the ward staff and told them mum was confused. They promised to document it and do an assessment before they sent her home.
Yesterday the hospital called me and said mum was medically fit to go home and had refused carers. I asked about the confusion but the person I spoke to didn't know anything about that.
Today they called again and said mum was medically fit to go home but she needed a bit of physio first. Then they said that mum wanted to speak to me because she didn't think anyone knew she were she was. I told the staff member that someone had been in to see mum 3 times and if mum didn't know this then she was still confused.
I then spoke to mum who told me they had put her in a cupboard and wouldn't let her out. She wanted to call the police because they wouldn't let her go home. She had no recollection of any one visiting her. She told me she had none of her belongings with her.
After speaking to mum, I spoke to the staff member again and they admitted that mum had tried to escape and wanted to call the police. They thought I could talk some sense into her.
Mum's relative has been in to see her this evening. Mum now thinks she's at a train station.
But when this was reported to the staff they just said they would make a note of it. The relative came away with the impression that our concerns are being dismissed and that we are just saying this because we don't want to take any responsibility for mum.
They don't have any explanation for this confusion. They don't seem to have investigated why she's like this. They don't appear to have documented anything about this. Just keep repeating she is medically fit to go home.
We don't know what to do next.
Has anyone got any suggestions?