Family member is an alcohol addict of 15+ years, only in their 50s but look 70s. Fell over 3 years ago and has had back pain ever since which deteriorated and became weakness, unable to stand, falling over and crawling on the floor to move around. 2 weeks ago, I'm not sure of the exact circumstances, they went into hospital. They were found lying in their own mess and having not been eating (alrdady under weight) and had been for weeks apparently, they live in a bedsit type home (unsupported but full of addicts) and were relying on 'friends' to help (in return for money). In the last 2 weeks, a plan had been put in place for physio and food to help them gain weight and strength. There have been MRI scans and lots of investigative work for the last 14 months but the family member stopped attending appointments due to not being able to leave their accommodation. I'm pretty sure cancers and serious diseases had been ruled out and no official diagnosis given.
We have been very relieved by this person being in hospital getting fed and a plan to get them well. But this person is no longer the person they once were and is like they have dementia - nasty and moody to nurses and family. We want to ask for testing for the alcohol type dementia we didn't realise existed.
In some sort of mood today, this person has decided to discharge themselves and we believe they may be getting home by patient transport. Noone in the family will help because they need to stay in hospital and would need to be carried once arriving home which noone can do and we don't want to give an easy option to leave.
Apparently the ward cannot stop them from discharging even though against all advice.
Someone somewhere is failing to connect the dots, this is a safeguarding issue to return them to a home where the people who will 'care' for the relative are the ones who left him in a mess and its also not their responsibility plus they dont have training to give proper care.
We think we need to get them sectioned maybe? Unclear on the best route. We just need someone to look at the bigger picture of what is going on here beyond a cantankerous person with a bad back.
They are letting a patient go home to rot (I know the individual nurses can't overturn procedure so nothing against them).
Is there any service you can advise may be the right one to look at the home set up, see there isn't appropriate care in place, look into the dementia type issues and look at the physical need to wheryou the person cannot even toilet and feed themselves?!