Hip broken in hospital

[Rebecca9210]

My grandad had a stroke and a heart attack. He went into hospital. The day he went in he could walk with support. With physio they managed to get him back to what he was before the stroke and he was walking around the ward and going to the toilet by himself. Whilst in their care he fell over and broke his hip. He was already a known at risk of falling. He was due to have surgery the next day. It got delayed for 7 day. Everyday he had to not eat anything until 6.30pm when they decided they couldn't do it on the day. It has been 4 weeks later and he has not recovered. He is now bed bound. In a lot of pain and is now incontinent. I am so angry and upset that this had happened to him. If he hadn't broken his hip he would have been able to come home but now he will have to go into a care/nursing home. Has anyone been in the same situation? We are likely going to lose his house now to pay for it. The house has been in my family for generations. Im just so angry, sad and frustrated. I just want the best for him

I am so sorry to hear this. Unfortunately occurrences similar this are all too common with elderly people in hospital. My Mum, MIL and FIL to name but 3. Hospitals are so ill-equipped to care for the very frail elderly. The staff/patient ratio is never going to be high enough for this labour-intensive (if you are going to look after them properly) group of people, and imo the same can be said of nursing homes for the most part.

My MIL apparently fell whilst trying to climb over the raised (was it, no-one seems to know for definite?) bed rail (unobserved), despite being so debilitated at the time, that she couldn't sit up and could barely speak. Yeah, right, to use a phrase. She sustained a bleed to the brain which lead to her death. We made a formal complaint, which allowed us to vent our concerns and disbelief, I suppose, but didn't get us anywhere in terms of the hospital admitting any fault. I think it's difficult without witnesses or CCTV footage. But do contact PALS in the first instance and make a complaint.
I'm sorry your family is going through this, made even more difficult by Covid. I hope the outcome for your Grandad is better than you fear at the moment.

How did he manage to get up with a broken hip then fall and break the other one?

It sounds like theres a lot.more to his condition than the initial post. He's gone in with one thing and is apparently well enough to walk. Has a fall breaks his hip. Is then bed bound and falls again? Have rails been put up? Does he have capacity ie does he understand he’s broken his hip and needs to stay in bed? Now he’s confused and you’re talking about POA! There’s a lot of information missing to be able to really be accurate. I’d go through PALs to get a better idea of what has happened and how.

I dont think they recommended bedrails now if someone is confused and likely to fall in case they try and climb over the top or get various limbs trapped .

Sorry to hear about your grandad. If he is not having 1:1 I would request this if he does not understand that he can not get up unaided/unsupervised

Ironically, one of the benefits of covid has been fewer falls among elderly in residential care, especially if they have dementia, because they are being escorted more often to reduce their physical contact with others.