Evicted from care home

[TheFlowerArranger]

My mother has dementia and has had several falls on her floor or out of her bed. They were not witnessed but the first time, she broke her cheekbone, the second time her hip and had a replacement and then she broke her kneecap. Each time, the home made concessions such as place her bed against the wall, lower the bed and finally gave her a bed with bars but she persists in falling over. I have given her walking aids, an airbed to cushion her fall if she falls out of bed, walking sticks and even an alarm if she moves out of bed, but these have 'disappeared'.

I have made formal complaints to the home about the falls and the loss of care items and they have given me notice to quit. They said I have 28 days but would prefer it if I could take my mother out sooner if I can find a place. They said, 'Old people fall over. this is what happens and they cannot take care of her in the way that individuals can'. They have told me that they can take care of her and meet her needs but not meet her needs to my satisfaction so they have evicted her based on my complaints.

What can I do ?

Sounds like she does need a nursing home and also a referral to the elderly peoples mental health team, they can change medications and see if there's anything they do to help her be more settled. You say she struggles when being changed and is uncooperative and throws things Aggression during personal care is not that unusual in an EMI nursing home, throwing things is more dangerous, she can injure other frail residents around her. So by keeping her they are putting other residents at risk of injury.

I work in a care home, and I imagine what they meant by their comment was that unfortunately, falls occur in a care home..if you think about the ratio of residents to carers, they can't provide 1:1 care (unless it's assessed for & funded). They can't have eyes on your mother at all times to ensure she doesn't fall. There are practical things ie very low bed, crash mats, sensor mats, ensuring she spends time in communal areas so that she can be watched - all of which should've been funded through assessments/NHS..I don't understand why you'd of had to buy them? Using an air bed isn't safe either even though it would provide a soft landing so I'm assuming they risk assessed it and decided it was unsafe? It sounds to me like they've got a high falls resident, with a family who think they deserve more, they can't provide this standard of care (is it a rest home, as usually these homes are for people who need less care), so their only option is to ask her to vacate. They won't want constant falls reports, complaints etc on their files. I could be totally wrong and it might be an awful care home - in which case, remove your mother regardless & report it. X

Unfortunately without 1-1 care there is no way of preventing falls completely. Steps can be taken ie low bed, and falls alarm. Bed rails should absolutely not be used on someone with dementia though. I’ve never seen 1-1 in nursing homes (limited experience granted) and we very rarely see in hospital now except for suicidal risk patients, there just aren’t enough staff.

She likely needs to be in a dementia unit. That is the only way she is going to get the level of care required to keep her safe.

the care home should have been proactive about saying that they are not the right placement and recommending a better facility type when the injuries started becoming frequent. Just evicting her is not appropriate.

Don’t be frightened of the secure unit being offered. My dad lived in one because he couldn’t be kept safe elsewhere, and the quality of care there was excellent and the staff were lovely. My mum visited him every day and they were lovely to her too.

They haven’t treated you very kindly but it does sound like you need a higher level of care.
Hopefully you’ll be able to get somewhere that can meet her needs and put your mind at ease.
I really feel for you and the stress you’re under.

The last two homes have been EMI nursing units with supposed specialist Dementia care. They are really badly staffed 28:3 or 26:3 and I cannot understand how any level of decent care can be provided at these staffing levels. My mother's lifetime savings have been drained by these organisations and now they state that they cannot care for her due to my complaints. All I want to know is why she is left to fall over constantly and what they can do to change this. I don't think that eviction is the way to resolve an issue.

There are no EMIU nursing places available nearby and the nearest secure unit is 80 miles away.

Unless you have 1:1 supervision this will happen constantly and even with 1:1 people still fall as the carer cannot always break their fall. Apart from having low bed, alarms( by the time a carer is there the fall could easily have already happened), etc as everyone else have stated you have to accept this may still happen.

Get a medication review. This can help in some cases.

Specialist dementia care can be poorly staffed (the job is very stressful) and falls are common.

I do think the general public have no idea how hard it is to manage people who have frequent falls. There are awful care facilities but the vast majority are fighting fires with hardly any staff.

Wishing you all the best with your DM.

You can’t stop falls without 1-1. I once sat with a Dementia patient for 8 hours with a small break of about 20 minutes when the patient fell asleep.

He threw his clothes, bedding, cup, everything at me the whole time and swore at me when I helped him back into bed, tried to strangle me and hit out constantly so I’d back away and then he would try and get out of bed the second I backed away.

He was in hospital with an injury from falling in his care home. Even with 1-1 I had to call for assistance three times because although his body was fragile he was also very strong. His poor family were so apologetic but it wasn’t his fault, but I can understand the care home’s concerns.

Oh OP it’s awful isn’t it?
If you can, I’d look for a smaller home.
My mums care home was small -15 at maximum residents and there was always 3 staff at least.

I honestly think this care home is failing your mum in providing care and they need to be reported.

However I also believe you need to remove your mum and find somewhere suitable as soon as possible.

Another one saying if you pay for 1-1 care you still can’t stop the falls. Old bodies are often already too broken to stand or weight bear, but dementia means they try anything. And do. You’d be amazed if you were there to see it.

If you really want to stop DM falling, you’ll have to put bars on the bed or secure her to a chair - both these aren’t recommended. More people die getting stuck in the bars than are saved by restraints.

You can, incidentally, restrain a dementia patient under some circs but generally you need a good reason & loads of fairly strong adults to do so without them hurting people or themselves.

OP, DM isn’t 25. Brains and bodies age and fail.

It’s hard to tell from your post if the care home is at fault. They clearly cannot cope with her. Looking after aggressive people who are a falls risk is very very difficult and unsurprisingly few people are keen to do it for minimum wage. It is a shame and unfair that she has lost her savings due to this brain disease. That is the governments fault though. I doubt any of these institutions are making much money, particularly with patients that need such intensive supervision. If this is the third institution you will need to be realistic.

How are you getting on @TheFlowerArranger