Getting a hospital bed at home

[NetZeroZealot]

Not sure if this is the right place to post but it's a start.
Think we will need to move my father to a bed downstairs and he will need a hospital bed that goes up & down etc..
Anyone else done this, how did you get the bed, how long did it take, can you get them 2nd hand??
Thanks.

My parents had an ordinary single bed pushed up against an adjustable non+hospital bed

Thanks @MereDintofPandiculation . I think that is the best solution, however my dad is going too be very resistant to any big changes. So we are now looking at getting a double adjustable bed with 2 sides that operate independently. Expensive, but they have savings (they just don't like spending them!)

@NetZeroZealot does he have a downstairs bathroom in his house?

Only a toilet. But it is large enough to convert to a wet room, so that is the next challenge!

I would look at getting a single bed pushed up against the hospital bed. If down the line your dad needs support from two carers for personal care it will need to be a single bed as they won't be able to reach over the other side of the double.

Carers will not be able to nurse him in a double bed OP.

you might need to do that now! when myMIL was coming home they were going to assess her for getting in and out of bath once she had been discharged!! she was doubly incontinent!! i made a few phone calls and had plumbers rip out the bath that afternoon and told hospital they couldnt send her home because her toilet was now in the middle of her living room floor!! they would have taken ages to put in a wet room (using standard white tiles and very utility)

How much has he deteriorated OP?

If he needs carers the double bed is out. Depending on his mobility the wetroom may also not be needed.

It is common to see family members who have spent a lot of money on inappropriate equipment when the NHS will provide what is actually useful for free.

There again, the NHS feels moving a bed to the living room and leaving the person in there with a commode is an adequate solution.

I used to measure the expense of things in weeks of care home. Getting a reconditioned stair lift in cost us 3 weeks of care home, and it kept him at home for an extra 3 months.

Totally depends on how much OP's relative has deteriorated though.

I've seen a lot of stair lifts in my time that got used once or not at all.

Thanks for everyone's advice.

It is difficult because while his condition has deteriorated rapidly over the last month such that he can't walk unaided any more, and stairs are out of the question, we haven't yet had a diagnosis from the hospital where he has been in for tests - we are hoping we will get this tomorrow and he may get discharged, as nothing seems to happen in the NHS on a weekend.

Our staircase isn't suitable for a stairlift unfortunately, and my Mum is understandably not keen on taking meals up and down stairs any more.

Took her bed shopping today and found a dual adjustable bed she liked which we could get installed next week if needed.

Good point about no point in installing a wet room if he can't get there unaided. But am thinking the carers could wheel him there and it would be a better experience than a bed bath, or whatever the alternative is?

If your dad needs support from carers then a could bed will make it very difficult. The The type of bed you are thinking of are really expensive and not particularly useful for people who've got to the stage where they need a bed to support with getting in and out of bed, moving in bed etc.
As your dad is in hospital at the moment, a hospital bed can be arranged by the discharge team (usually the OT) if he's been assessed as needing one. They may not feel he's at that stage yet and that a standard bed but on the ground floor will be fine. Maybe with a bed lever which is a rail that attaches to the bed to give him something to hold onto to help him get in and out of bed.

Cross posted with you OP. Please don't spend lots of money on a new bed until you've discussed it with the hospital team/ OT. If you end up with one that isn't suitable for his needs it's going to cause frustration for you all alongside the money you've wasted

I know, I understand about the carers, and think that that point may be a bit further down the line and he can move to a hospital bed when we reach that point. At least that's what other members of my family think.
I don't want to commit to paying for the expensive new bed until we've been told by the hospital what they think.

Thank you@dayone I completely agree but other members of my family have different views!

On the plus side, we could probably accommodate a new bed ourselves if this one turns out not to be necessary, although it's not the one I would choose ...!

The problem is none of the doctors have given us any useful information at all (yet) about whether he may be close to the end of life or whether he could recover even a bit so everyone in the close family is making different assumptions and coming to different conclusions.

If he can't walk unaided he needs an OT assessment before going home. It sounds as if he is heading for a care package so the hospital bed is going to be important - and the carers won't be reaching over a double. It is his home but it's also their workplace.

As you say, no point in a wetroom if he can't get there or is too fatigued to use it.

I very much doubt that the kind of adjustable bed that you can buy from a store will be the answer. If he's deteriorating quickly, he's going to need more care, and potentially an electric air mattress quite soon.

My late DH's hospital bed, though not pretty, had all the bells and whistles that he needed as his condition progressed. Things change so rapidly that something that is enough one day, isn't the next.

We softened the effect of the bed by buying a whole new set of new need linen and cousins/throws etc. His was put in what had been the dining room, so there wasn't room for me to sleep next to him. But if there had been I'd have bought a comfy chair bed that I could have sat in during the day, and folded out into a bed in the evening. If you save money by getting a hospital bed, your mum could have a super comfy one of those.

We have one on loan - I think the district nurse team sorted it as my grandmother has bed sores and was unable to get into her bed. The company was called Mediquip and they delivered and set it up for us.

You also need to think about continence OP. Is he continent at night? Is his skin at risk of breakdown? Has he got any pressure sores? You have to think about the mattress as well as the bed. Is the bed going to be compatible with any transfer aids ie- a stedy isn't with a divan type of bed. Is it high enough to enable him to stand up, yet low enough to ensure his feet are on the floor.
Honestly, wait and see what the hospital say. It's great that you are being / willing to be so proactive, but equally you want to make sure anything you do buy / get meets his needs, for now and the next few months.

Good point about no point in installing a wet room if he can't get there unaided. But am thinking the carers could wheel him there and it would be a better experience than a bed bath, or whatever the alternative is? Not necessarily. A bed bath as I was taught to do it many years ago involves uncovering a bit of tge body at a time, and you stay warm. I like my showers hot, and one of the things that terrifies me about a care home is being carted off for a shower that isn’t warm enough.

OP please don't get a double bed.
His carers will not be able to nurse him in one and will be entitled to refuse to come.

If he's going to need bed baths, they won't be able to lean across a double bed without risking damage to their backs.

Never mind what your family is saying. Unless they have experience of nursing their opinions should be set aside.

And wheeling an immobile patient to a wet room to give him a shower will take much longer than a bed bath would.
You'll be paying a fortune to a care agency for this alone.

A double adjustable bed would be useless for incontinence.

And you need a proper hospital bed (with a wipe-clean / covered mattress) if a patient needs a bed bath.