Alzheimer's and hospitals

[handcream]

I need some advice and whether I was unreasonable.

My DM has been admitted to hospital. She was moved 4 times in less than 12 hours but that isn't my concern. On a general ward a lady with severe Alzheimer's was put next to her, the nurses tried to change her, she was incontitent and she tried to bite and kick the three nurses who were dealing with her, she was shouting, swearing and screaming out. She was the same ages as my DM. After about an hour of listening to this and realising that it was nearing bedtime I felt I had to say something.

I asked that one of them be moved. I was fearful for my Mum in the middle of the night with this lady next to her.

Ironically they decided to move Mum anyway and she ended up opposite an elderly lady who rang the alarm bell every 30 mins and opposite a side room where the man insisted on shouting out and screaming when the ward phone rang (and wasn't answered in a timely fashion).

Was I unreasonable to think there must be better way to deal with patients with this horrible illness.

I would also consider that this ward had near enough mixed wards, think of a long corridor with bays of four beds, next to each other. Mum's bay was about 2 feet from the males one.

Nursing homes are usually funded by the NHS. Most people don't have £800+ per week.

Actually the two ladies in the wards did have urine infections. You might have something there. If say the most common illnesses were identified and then looked at differently.

In my dad's day Alzheimer's suffferers ended up in psychiatric/geriatric hospitals

Private care homes wouldn't touch them.

That was the only good thing about having Alzheimer's. It was treated under the NHS so the state couldn't grab your estate for your care.

You pay for care in a NH if your savings etc are over a certain amount. Under that amount, you are funded but your pension is used to help pay.

Can't grab your estate?

Sorry but you can't live at home so you pay your living costs elsewhere. You pay utilities food and care at home so you surely pay it in a home. It's not estate grabbing it's paying your way

over the 4 or so years my mum, an alzheimer's sufferer, spent in a care home, and eventually a nursing home, she was admitted to hospital 3 times. In hospital she would be confused and frightened and would shout out and scream, even if she wasn't in pain. I always felt bad and really embarrassed that she was disturbing and upsetting other patients and did my best to calm her and make her feel safe. It was exhausting. One time she was admitted to the neuro ward after a fall. I told the staff she had dementia and suggested I come in during the day to keep her happy. They said no, visiting starts at 3pm. Lo and behold, the next morning I get a phone call saying she was being difficult and they couldn't cope with her and would I come in. I had to drag DD along as she was still too young to leave home alone.

I cannot fault the medical care at our local hospital, but they certainly don't have the resources to cope with dementia patients

No.

An advocate of paying your way. Yes medical and nursing needs should be paid for by the NHS but social care needs and room and board that you'd otherwise Pay for at home yes you should pay for it

They're on a fine line.

Nursing at the end but social otherwise

But it's not about paying for normal living costs live utilities and food it's about having to pay for nursing care. Also handcream UTI's can cause confusion, hallucinations and agitation in elderly people. The risks of developing UTIs can be reduced by making sure that people are drinking enough, using the toilet frequently enough and are being cleaned/ being helped to clean properly after using the loo. Also most UTIs can be managed without a hospital admission if symptoms are recognised and the person gets treatment early enough. There are lots of good NH with dedicated staff who do this well, unfortunately some don't though.

Pastor - if I had an estate worth a fair amount of money why wouldn't I want to use it to fund specialist care. Why on earth would I expect the state to pay for it?

But prevention can be managed in a normal care home with adequate carer support

Once they have a UTI then yes a nurse is required

Dementia is a massively broad condition spanning many years of a persons life and either end is the polar opposite of the other in terms of support required

I know the cost of care at home and residential care thank you and yes selling your home will pay for many years of good quality residential care

You save for a rainy day, well that's your rainy day

Because we can't afford it

When you pay tax and NI it doesn't work that you eventually get it back! What about people who have never worked or paid anything in, if you are assuming that you will get your contributions and more back for perhaps years on end who is paying for them!

Sorry but you can't live at home so you pay your living costs elsewhere. You pay utilities food and care at home so you surely pay it in a home. It's not estate grabbing it's paying your way

If you are in hospital with a recognised illness, that's paid for under the NHS. That's why we don't charge people for their food and soap. It comes under care.

I think wires are getting crossed here limited I'm advocating people paying for their social care not their medical care

Ididnt How do you expect people to pay that money for their social care if they don't bloody have it?!

I've been on wards with very disturbed patients who were shouting out all night etc and I felt very sorry for them. they were in that state because they didn't understand what was happening to them. I'd feel the same way about a child crying all night on a children's ward.

I know why dementia sufferers have to be on specialised wards, but when there are no trained staff to deal with them there are cracks in the care given and you can see the staff becoming frustrated with the patient.

On the cardiac ward they failed to safeguard my vulnerable father who had been moved from a locked ward. He was able to leave the cardiac ward, wander around the hospital at night and get into the morgue. from there he managed to get out through the emergency exit into the car park and was wandering around in his pyjamas. No alarms went off. it wasn't until the security guards noticed him on the cameras that he was found and brought back inside. He was away from the ward for over 2 hours and nobody noticed. This was a seriously ill man who also suffered from paranoid delusions and had been sectioned.

Some incorrect crap on this thread, social care covers care needs, NHS covers nursing needs. Some people will die never reaching the criteria for nursing care.

they don't charge yet limited.

DM has been in hospital for over 3 weeks. And for three weeks I've been trying to get them to get someone in to cut her toenails. I'm told I should pay for a chiropodist to come in privately because it takes a long time to get a podiatrist...