The oldie I care for remotely has been in hospital. Complex background but they have burnt their bridges with lots of family members including my brother who lives more locally. No comms from hospital at all about discharge. None from oldie either (I try not to ring and hassle the nurses - more fool me).
Then on Sunday DSis says Oldie has told her they are getting home that afternoon.
I phone hospital - Oldie has got it wrong discharge is planned for following day. I enquire when they were going to inform me - I'm PoA. Oldie has cognitive impairment. I look after her money and ensure there re groceries etc in house. Surely I should have been included in discharge planning?
Silence.
I then explain my concerns about discharge around her having medication on a time schedule not covered by her care package which led to her not completing antibiotics after her last discharge and because no-one had told me what the plan was, and her twice a day carers didn't tell me she wasn't taking the medicines at noon or 6pm (ie . the times they weren't there) she didn't get them.
She is back in with the same issue. I have submitted a concern about her last discharge but no-one has actually actioned it as they have spent considerably more time contacting me about whether I want it processed via the complaint, concern or informal feedback pathway than on the actual substance of the complaint.
So yesterday I had a mad day at work (so couldn't chase myself)and no-one from hospital phones me. Someone did phone my Bro to get him to go and get her regular medication from the pharmacy and he isn't wise enough to the ways of the NHS to check that this was all she needs. So he went back to her house for the second time (first time was to drop off the grocery shop he had done because there were no delivery slots left for December 23rd and I pretty much grovelled until he agreed to do it for me).
Then he and I speak and I ask where the antibiotics were (nurse on Sunday had told me she had to finish a course of them this week).
Oldie doesn't tell us she is safely home despite us asking her to do so. Brother takes this one on as I'm still stuck at work and we eventually establish that she is home but doesn't have a clue if she has a discharge summary or to take any additional medication.
Private carer/ helper went in today (separate from her funded care package) tasked by me with finding the discharge summary.
She can't find it. So phones the ward. Who then courier it to the Oldie's house.
Carer sends me pictures of it.
It shows the antibiotics should have been dispensed as there are four more doses to take. No-one can find these in the house. Carer goes home.
I ring the hospital. They promise to courier out the missing medication.
Care package carer goes in I ring to speak to her and explain that more medication is coming and asking her to put a note on care file for her colleagues over next three days.
Medication then arrives (very promptly- I think they put a student nurse in a taxi) but sadly after the carer has left.
But oldie tells me it contains 8 tablets not the expected 4. Oldie is now really confused (?? sundowning) and can't reliably tell me what dose the tablets are. Nor can they read me the label on the box. I'm worried they have sent 50mg tablets (to make up the 100mg dose) rather than 100mg ones. Why would you give someone who needs to take four days of antibiotics 8 days of them. So I ask her to photograph the box.
We then spend 25 minutes on the phone trying to get her to take a picture on WhatsApp (discovering her camera isn't enabled for WA along the way). Failing. Then I tried to WA video call. Then when we reverse the camera it transpires someone has helpfully shoved the Oldie's credit card into the back of her phone case OVER the camera. Oldie can't turn camera back round.
We then FaceTime and I discover you can't reverse the camera on FaceTime so have to deal with Oldie waveringly trying to balance the phone and tablets to let me read them I establish that they are 100mg tablets. I now feel seasick and in desperate need of wine.
So in conclusion they sent a confused old person home without her discharge summary or medication. When phoned about it they courier out the discharge summary but no medication. When phoned a second time they courier out 8 x tablets out to a confused old person who only needs to take 4.
Way to go to make an old person get more muddled.
(DOI: I work in the NHS. My non clinical interest is Patient safety.
Ha fucking ha ha).
Merry Christmas everyone.