Should care home staff have unpacked hospital bags after discharge?

[BeaTwix]

I care for an elderly relative. Not my parent. I call them EPICF [elderly person I care for]. They have been in hospital recently and were discharged back to their care home 12 days ago. They have dementia which is why they are in care as home wasn’t safe anymore.

I live a long way away so today was my first opportunity to visit.

I found the bags that EPICF had had in hospital full of stuff (including heavily soiled laundry in a separate NHS bag inside the main bag) sitting on the floor of their care home room today. So the staff didn’t fully unpack for them when they returned to the care home. They aren’t capable of unpacking and their laundry is put away for them normally and I’ve labelled all the storage in the room to try to help both staff and EPICF find things.

I’m really upset about this (mostly the soiled laundry tbh) and messaged my siblings to let them know. One of my siblings has indicated that this isn’t a big deal as this sort of stuff was commonplace when EPICF lived at home and I should just leave it as we aren’t paying for one to one care just a bed in a care home.

Whereas I think it is really really is a big deal and that someone should have unpacked and sent stuff to the laundry upon EPICF’s return not left it festering in their room for 12 days.

Opinions welcome.

Honestly for me this would fall into “pick your battles”.

i have an elderly mum and am disabled myself and there’s only so much I can deal with.

I've never worked in a care home, but I do care at home. I would (and have) emptied a hospital bag for a client and put it on a wash (her juice has spilled anyway so it all needed doing - i washed the bag too!) It seems very odd that no one has. I wonder if theyre not meant to go through personal items or something? I'd not be impressed either OP. Although, that said, im returning to my other career soon and giving up care work, but I've specifically kept one client on at the weekend because I dont trust that other people do go the extra mile for her and I cant bear the thought of that.

When DPs arrived at the care home, DF had a bag of soiled laundry from when he was sick in the hospital ( they wouldn’t discharge him to home) and the care home were diligent in taking this to the laundry, washing and labelling it. I certainly think they should have washed it, if nothing else it seems a bit of a health hazard to leave it there.

@Octavia64 so you would be happy with shitty knickers being left in a plastic bag in your relatives room for 12 days with no clear idea when any staff member would have dealt with it?

The room is cleaned daily. Apparently.

I work in the care home industry. If I found out that this happened in one of my services I would be bouncing.

Again, others may differ but I’d only fight battles where there was an impact on the person being cared for.

but I have spent time in hospital myself and have friends who have carers/live in care homes so maybe I’m too relaxed.

they generally have bigger battles to fight.

See that's more what I meant with my client, thank you for putting it more clearly! Its not that her carers dont care. But an hour to do all the must do tasks doesnt leave time for cleaning the bathroom floor, hoovering under the sofa, doing an extra load of washing beyond all her bedding and clothes that are done daily. And so those tasks get ignored. I wonder if it's something like that? Maybe her carers' work is scheduled tightly that there's no room for random one off extra tasks? But as I say, id still do it. That woman owes me many many hours (of minimum wage pay) for the over time I've given her, free of charge over the past year! But her plants are now thriving and her bathroom floor is sparkling and I sleep well at night.

No, it should have been unpacked and washed.

I still get cross that when MiL died the care home literally swept all of her belongings into bin bags, including used cotton buds and used tissues & handed us the bags. We were paying £6k a month for that service.

The home always seems well staffed. 14 beds in EPICF’s area which is frail elderly, there is another frail elderly area and an advanced dementia unit which has higher ratios.

Nurse and two ( or possibly three) HCA level carers on at night
Nurse and four on during day.

Cleaning staff and Laundry staff on top. I would have expected an HCA to unpack her.

Some of the residents in EPICF’s bit are probably quite heavy in terms of care load and are fully dependent for all cares and need hoisted etc.

EPICF is ambulant but needs assistance to shower and get out of bed in AM (and to get out of their recliner if they forget how the controls work 😢)

I wouldn't be happy with this OP!

My mum was in a care home for 4 years before she died and anytime she'd been in hospital her bag was emptied, clothes sent to laundry and toiletries put away.

If i had went in and found soiled underwear i would have hit the roof, this is what they are paid for, to look after the resident, and to help them do the stuff the cant.

My DD is also a carer and she does it for her residents.

Yeah I know what you mean.

i have a cleaner who actually stopped working with the agency some time ago but bless her she comes every Saturday and cleans my house.

i’m disabled and it really does need doing and I do really really appreciate her. I’m very aware that if not for her things would be very messy and dirty.

when you are disabled and physically can’t do stuff you can let standards drop to levels able bodied people aren’t comfortable with.

maybe that’s one of these cases.

@Octavia64 person involved here has significant dementia. So any opinions they have on standards are null and void.

They were removed from their home as they weren’t coping and visiting carers weren’t keeping them safe, so the standards at play here are those of the staff and non impaired adults.

They are self funding the care home and it costs about a third of their gross annual teachers pension per month- so we are burning through life savings and the value of their property.

Not sure if that influences your opinion on shit stained laundry being left lying for 12 days.

Where my mother was no bag would have been left on the floor, it would be a trip hazard. All laundry was dealt with as it arose.

I had another client who went into a home for respite care and he came home with beautifully laundered clothing, neatly folded into his bag. None of it was his mind. But still, they made the effort.

In all seriousness op, I actually don't it would be unreasonable to raise it politely with the home. Its pretty rank to leave soiled clothing if they're allowed to go into the bag. Maybe it was an oversight and they can look at improving their practice.

Actually I would raise it. In DPs care home there are many small things that I have raised. It helps that we live close and are able to visit 2-3 times per week. I make sure to say thank you for those things done well. Sadly I think the staff pay more attention if they know someone is keeping an eye on them.
Ask who the floor manager is, if it’s not policy to clean clothes and unpack, well at least you know, but I would be astounded if that was the case.
And yes of course her living conditions at home were worse , that’s why she had to move to a home for her own protection.

Of course they should - it's just plain common sense. Was it just going to sit there and go rotten? No-one in the care industry should have to be told to do such a basic thing -I presume they deal with her dirty laundry the rest of the time?

This. How long was it going to left if you hadn’t gone to visit? 12 days is more than long enough, especially at this time of year. It’s unhygienic and an infection control risk

They should have unpacked and settled your EPICF back in. I've worked in this industry and am horrified that no real care has been shown here, it would never have flown anywhere I've experienced. I'd be complaining.

Edited for spelling.

My mum had to go into respite after being discharged from hospital - I'd gone down with shingles.

When I went in to see her prior to getting her home, I was shown what had been unpacked from her hospital bag. Given my illness, the bag had been packed by hospital staff. This included size 22 holey knickers.

My mum was a size 8, soaking wet.

I posted the XL underwear to the Charge Nurse of the hospital ward with a covering letter - Guaranteed Delivery. Yes, I am bloody minded.

The person is in a care home, not their own home.

This is totally unacceptable.

Yes they definitely should have unpacked and either laundered stuff or thrown it away if necessary. Such a health hazard to leave it

What @SweatySpider321 said.

I think I would complain in writing, just set out plainly what you saw and ask what their policy is, and get a reply in writing, don’t chase the answer via the phone. And maybe don’t answer the phone until you have the answer in writing.

If it only happened once, anyone can miss a bag while unpacking from being away, being a paid carer doesn't make you immune to making mistakes! If it happened again, that would be cause for concern.

I'd assume it was just overlooked by mistake. Did you ask the staff?

But that's why the care home is being paid for staff to be managed and supervised. This isn't a care worker popping in for 15 minutes to give them their meds and help get dressed in the morning. This is 24 hour care. A random bag should be noticed and dealt with.