Woman evicted from NHS hospital ward after being stuck for 18 months

[SerendipityJane]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c897ew0ekp4o

I agree.
She should have just been moved to the first local nursing home that had a vacancy, whether she liked it or not, and have done all the applying for other places etc from there. She should not be blocking an acute bed. It infuriates me that the BBC are reporting this as a “heartless NHS” story.

The article also states, she has capacity.

Hospitals aren’t “Homes” though.
It’s not appropriate to move in with a vengeance with all that tat.

"It's common for those with EUPD to want to be in hospital even if there is no need. They feel safe and enjoy the attention given. It's sad really."

So presumably old style institutions would have been better and given her this?!

We all know mental health is at a crisis point but without places to go it will not get better.

What makes me really mad about this (amongst other things) is we kick out women a few hours after they've given birth, meanwhile stuff like this goes on.

The care act 2014 is clear though that local authorities cannot be compelled to offer choices that simply don't exist or aren't feasible.

The choice is between what is possible and available. Sometimes that choice is between a very very limited range of options through no fault of the local authority.

You can't immediately commission, develop and staff a complex mental health facility in matter of weeks just for one person. Its logistically and financially impossible in the short term and very difficult in the long term but it sounds like the local authority made somewhat of an attempt to do so and it still wasn't accepted.

Yes and as stated in the article due to her unacceptable behaviour when she was there they were not able to have her back.

She didn't move in with her stuff. She was admitted suffering from cellulitis and while she was still being treated, she was evicted from where she'd been living. Someone else must have fetched her stuff and dumped it there. Where else could she have put it once that happened?

They have to cover themselves. Could you imagine the fallout if she had of killed herself after being left on the council's doorstep.

Another issue is that residential care homes need to consider the safety and wellbeing of their other residents and staff, especially when the former will all be vulnerable themselves. Think about why 120 providers turned her down. This is in no way usual even for younger people with complex needs, where there is indeed a dearth of suitable provision.

This. 120 places were confused but only one was suitable.

She has such huge and complex needs; looking after her is going to be a huge job. And she's only 35.

NHS policy for a long time now has been to get people out of hospital as soon as they are no longer acutely unwell, and they can continue to recover at home.

If you are ill, the very very last place you ever want to be is a hospital.

A friend managed to dodge Covid 2020-2022. Then had to go into hospital and almost immediately came down with it. Luckily it was mild for her. Of course I visited and also got it, and it was hell on earth.

And my DM passed away in hospital. After developing pneumonia.

Social services would have been able to make provision to safely store any belongings she didn't immediately need if she allowed it. They would also have been able to ensure she had access to things being stored.

This lady wasn't left in hospital because she was sitting on the caseload of a social worker who hadn't got round to her yet, believe me.

Bin? Dumpster?
A hospital isn’t a dumping ground for an evicted person’s tat.

If she was a good housemate no way would she have been evicted- it wouldn’t be legal .

This woman is probably a nightmare and unwelcome everywhere- yet wants the world to revolve around her.

I don’t know what the alternative is, to be honest. We tend to have very limited discharge options at my work - family, a residential home, supported living (hens teeth, never happens) or live on their own.

There’s very, very little for adults who can live semi independently but need a carer coming in, who don’t have a (diagnosed, at least) learning disability. Add into that mix people who have committed a crime, or can’t abstain from substances, or have additional factors making them less safe to be around people … where do they go?

I don’t envy the people trying to sort that one out and get funding etc, it’s hell. From a family where a lot of us work in prison or forensic mental health, it’s all the exact same issues.

It's not that simple. Unless you've had direct experience you do not have a clue.

These types of complicated cases who are eventually put in a flat under care in the community, die within the year.

This is probably going to be her fate as well.

People like this eat up taxpayer’s money and resources.

This could continue for another 50 years!

The hospital would have bent over backwards to accommodate her needs and wishes. She sounds like one of those nightmare patients for whom nothing is good enough.

I worked in a residential home for young adults with learning difficulties and autism whilst I was at uni. The job was terrible, staff turnover was high, we were always understaffed and it was so dangerous. Over the years lots of protections have been put into place to keep vulnerable individuals safe but in some ways this comes at a cost to the staff. It's such a complex balance. For example we were unable to lock the bedroom doors. This sounds great, no one should be locked in their rooms. But when you're the only member of staff available and you're dealing with someone who is 6ft tall and 18 stone who wants to attack you it doesn't feel so great.

It sounds a nightmare for everyone, including the lady in question. I can imagine sharing a ward with her was no picnic either.

What an absolute mess, I can understand why her previous care home wouldn't want her back she may be vulnerable but she sounds very difficult too. However you would think legally they would have had to take her then sorted out a new place for her themselves.

It is terrible that she has been kept in an acute hospital bed and has refused accommodation offered.

It's a shame but our hospitals seem to have become the place as last resort for all of society's problems. In the 70s I visited my DF in hospital, there were strict visiting times, the matron ran the ward, it was clean and had strict rules. I went with my DC to A and E recently, there were druggies asleep under the stairwell, people outside the main hospital smoking while on drips, there's a Costa inside and children's play area. It's more like a community facility than a medical facility. There appeared no one in authority anywhere, no rules, families wandering the corridors, I can't say that it felt clean or safe.

Legally she can’t be forced to go anywhere if she’s not detainable - she would only be if she was deemed a serious risk to herself or others, and given she’s on a general ward it doesn’t sound like that’s the case at all. Very, very difficult situation for all.

So true.

What do you mean: die within the year?

Could also be that the accommodation they’re offering is too far away - furthest I’ve seen is 400 miles. If mum has difficulties herself that’s essentially shutting that relationship down, and it doesn’t sound like there’s many other supportive relationships going on sadly.