Dad keeps falling out of bed.

[Ozgirl76]

My mum is caring for my dad at home, he has terminal cancer. He is very very frail and weak and he has a bed downstairs. He has fallen out of this bed twice now (about a week apart). My mum is upstairs.
What have other people done in this situation? They have a ring camera but my mum says it goes off constantly because it activates every time he moves and she gets no sleep.
I feel like it’s time to pay a nurse to do the night shift just in case it happens again, and to give my mum peace of mind that she can sleep and know she’ll get a full night.
She seems a little reluctant and I wondered if there was a half way measure that anyone has found?

Sorry to hear about your dad :(

Sounds like an OT has been in and done an assessment from the equipment you mentioned, not sure on your location but I think a referral to the falls team would be of benefit to your dad and family, the OT can do this if you mention to them he has had some falls and they’ll help in any way they can- suggesting adaptations, adjustments, etc.

I’m an OT - we won’t prescribe bed rails for someone who is mobile - it is a huge falls risk so we physically cannot order them on our system if we tick patient is mobile on risk ax.

Two options - floor bed with crash mat but that could still be a falls risk when he stands up to go to the loo. I would personally suggest an Infra red motion detector on the floor at the foot of the bed - with a pager to your mum to alert her when he gets up and his feet break the infra red beam.

A pee bottle could also work if he is happy to use one.

Wishing your dad and mum all the best finding a solution to this issue.

OTs can do falls risk ax as well if trained - I do in my service.

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate your input.
I had a good chat with mum today and she’s left a message with a care agency that covers her area and she’s agreed that she probably needs someone to come in overnight. She says she just can’t cope with being woken multiple times (potentially) a night with him going to the loo (he goes a lot because he is on tablets as he has fluid build up).
She said if she was just awoken because of an occasional fall that would be ok, but she says the caring in the day wears her out and she needs a good nights sleep to stay positive and calm for my dad in the day.

Personally I think this is the best option, I like the idea of someone there so mum can go to bed and know she’ll get the full nights sleep without waking up and finding him on the floor.

Im hoping to encourage her to get a carer in once or twice a week as well to let her go out for coffee or to the shops, just to give her a bit of a break too.

What's the light level like in his bedroom? Is his risk of falling made worse because he can't see well enough when he gets up? Would it help to install some low-level motion sensor lights?

You mentioned getting an overnight carer. Towards the end of my parent's life, Marie Curie were able to help out and it was such a help for me to get a block of continuous sleep every few days. It made a huge difference to my ability to cope.

Thanks @MidsummerMoment - he does have a motion sensor light in his room and that does help.
Yes I hope my mum will really benefit from knowing when she goes to sleep she won’t have to get up until morning. I’m hoping that if this works well we might get someone to help with the morning routine too as mum helps him dress and shower etc. I don’t think he’ll want someone helping him shower but even if they could help with some of these things it would take the load off my mum.

If he is not confused, it would be way cheaper to ask a community nurse to trial an overnight convene with him. This is an external catheter which is fitted like a condom,where he can just wee in bed and it drains into a bag beside the bed. It does not work for all but for those it does work for its a game changer as it does not disturb anyone's sleep.

It also helped me knowing that if my parent got worse in the night (they were definitely approaching the end of their life) that I'd be woken. It was odd falling asleep knowing that someone else was awake and keeping watch but it only took me a couple of nights to get used to it.
I'm thinking of you all.

That would have been an OT or assistant. Go back to them and ask if there is anything thst can help. Thats literally their job.

Are they self funding, CHC or Social Care funded? CHC fast track could be an option depending on his health situation and could help with funding an overnight carer as they are very expensive? Or if he has a social worker then you could discuss his current package of care with them?

Thinking of you and your family.

They’re funding themselves - which is fine, they are luckily comfortably off and I’m encouraging mum to throw as much money as needed at the problem.
Bluebird seems to be about £1600 a week for a full time live in career so I’m assuming overnight will be about £150? We’ll find out today.

Hi OP
sorry you’re all going through this. Depending which area you are in you may be able to get nightsitters. I know in some areas this is covered by Marie Curie and in other areas it’s NHS. Ring your local district nurse team and see if they can help?
wishing you all the best

Thank you - I’ll look into that as well.