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Mental health

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My mother's being sectioned today as the hospital she was in last week for a kidney problem messed up her medication and left them on the side of her bed in a tub! They then sent her home. Bastards!!!

23 replies

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 23/10/2009 10:32

She doesn't handle stress at all and goes into melt down, she's had a few episodes in the past 20 years where she's been sectioned due to severe nervous breakdowns but it's been controlled with lots of support and medication that she takes on a daily basis, every time she's been in hospital they screw up the medication and she goes a bit wappy so they are warned to look through her notes. She was taken into hospital 2 weeks ago with a burst cyst on her kidney. She was fine for a few days then her mental health started to slip. I called the ward and spoke to the nurse, asing her to look through her notes, she said she didn't have time but would do it. My mum began to really slip, she was calling me all the time, telling me she wanted to go home, she was really agitated and upset, I spoke to the nurse again, again she said she'd look through her notes and she said my mum was being given diazepam to calm her down.
My mum continued to deteriorate, by Saturday she was using her walking stick as a 'magic wand', poking the patients and the staff because she was convinced they would die if she didn't. They discharged her on Monday!! She's at home but she's in a real mess, hallucinating, panicking, she's really unwell. The mental health team have been going in to see her daily but they are just pissing about with her medication, my family can't cope so they are having her sectioned today.

It has also come to light that the staff in the hospital have left her medication in a tup a ware box at the side of her bed so she's probably been medicating herself/not at all. They have told us that she's been given diazepam at night to help her sleep, however a nurse working on nights has said she's not been given anything. I am so angry, all of this could have been avoided if they had read through her notes and not left her to medicate herself.

I'm just venting really, this smacks of clinical negligence to me. Farking bastards!

OP posts:
Cadelaide · 23/10/2009 22:57

I'm so sorry Fluffy.

I quite understand your need to vent, she hasn't had good care at all has she? I know about the delicate balance of meds where mental illness is concerned, and they've really messed up.

Hope she feels better very soon.

tellnoone · 23/10/2009 23:22

That's terrible, sounds like poor care. It is the doctors' professional responsibility to check previous medical history, to check medications a patient is already on when admitted, to continue to prescribe if appropriate during admission and to make arrangements for medications on discharge. The nurse's attitute to your concerns on the phone seems flippant and unprofessional.

If you want to make a complaint to the hospital go on their website and get the number for PALS - patient advisory and liaison service who will explain what to do, or google PALS and I'm sure a national website will have info. NHS trusts have a duty to respond to complaints within I think 21 days and they have to investigate the issues raised. Address your letter to the chief executive of the trust.

Hope your Mum feels better soon.

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 24/10/2009 01:25

Thankyou both for replying. She's still at home, the community team have said she is behaving this way because she has a UTI

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PumpkinsCantDanceTheTango · 24/10/2009 01:36

Thats really terrible

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 24/10/2009 01:37
Sad
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kitkatcadaverqueen · 24/10/2009 01:49

Hi Fluffy, I just read whats ben happening to your mum, totally agree her care has been apalling, but they could be right about the uti - My nan would hallucinate, hear voices and generally go absolutly barking every time she had a uti. They should have put her on trimethoprim, but you can help her by getting her to drink as much as poss, cranberry juice mixed with warm / cold water is espescially good as it contains an ingredient that coats the lining of the bladder. cirtus fruits can be bladdr irritating but really the more fluids you can get into her the better.

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 24/10/2009 01:53

Thankyou

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flakecake · 26/10/2009 07:38

What-a-ting! Don't get me started! It seems to be all to common, this thing of nurses being too busy to, well, nurse! When I had my baby I didn't feel safe at all in hospital because of the thing you describe- they have not got time to read your notes or talk to you. It really falls on family and friends to get clued-up on medical things as much as possible, and fill in where they fail.

How's your mum now?

BudaBones · 26/10/2009 07:44

Sounds horrendous Fluffy. A similar thing happened to my Mum in hospital in Dublin at Easter. They used a prescription that had been issued by the hospital almost a year before and gave her a drug that she had been taken off as she had a bad reaction to it.

I would agree that UTIs can cause hallucinations though. MIL's mum gets them and they know straight away from her behaviour.

Hope your Mum gets better soon.

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 26/10/2009 11:53

She's back in hospital. It turns out the mental episode was due to a UTI and chest infection she was sent home with last week! She fell on the kitchen floor on Friday night, my brothers helped her up (she was doing somethins for them ), put her to bed then went out, locking the door behind them and leaving her alone. She fell again and couldn't get up, she spent all night on the floor until my sister went to check on her, my sister couldn't get in as she didn't have a key so had to track down the neighbour, my mum was still on the floor, she'd wet herself and was crying in pain, my sister called an ambulance, they took her to hospital and it turns out she's fractured her hip, they were going to operate yesterday but the couldn't as she was too upset, they are doing it today. I spoke to her last night, she's with it now, just in pain. I am so very, very angry. If she had not have been discharged in this state this would never have happened. I'm going to name and shame Stafford hospital!!

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MmeGoblindt · 26/10/2009 11:58

Oh, that is terrible, Fluffy. Your poor mum.

I do hope that you are going to write to the hospital and complain.

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 26/10/2009 12:00

I'll do alot more then this, it's where the legal training comes into play I think.

Thankyou.

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MmeGoblindt · 26/10/2009 12:12

Good, give them hell.

It is shocking, how bad the care in UK is for people with mental illness. My cousin's wife has been discharged from hospital on several occassions although she was seriously ill.

tellnoone · 26/10/2009 12:13

I'm so sorry to hear more terrible news about your mum

Isn't staffordshire hospital the one that was severely critised in a healthcare commission report?

here

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 26/10/2009 12:28

Yes, it's the one. Things have far from improved!! I'll have a look at that link later tell, thankyou. I'll be seeking legal advice on her behalf, I am so very angry, she must have been so frightened, all of this would never have happened if she was cared for properly.

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Doyouthinktheysaurus · 26/10/2009 12:29

Oh your poor mum Fluffy, that's absolutely awful

You have every right to feel very angry, the way she has been treated by the hospital sounds appalling.

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 26/10/2009 12:33

Thankyou.

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tellnoone · 26/10/2009 13:04

That link was just a newspaper article, if you do want to read more about the investigation here is a summary report and the full report. Also see the care quality commission which is the new NHS regulator.

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 26/10/2009 13:11

Thankyou. I'm going to make sure they don't get away with this.

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rabbit54 · 27/10/2009 21:53

Did you say your brothers locked her in the house and left her alone? I don't understand why they did this? (hshock)

FluffySaysTheDailyMailsShite · 27/10/2009 23:07

Yes. I'm really, really not happy about this. They insist she was asleep and say they feel really bad about what happened. Arseholes!

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jaxxyj · 28/10/2009 23:10

you could contact Independent complaints advisory service. Its really useful to have someone help you through the complaint.
Good luck

FluffysBeenBittenByAVampire · 29/10/2009 00:16

Thankyou.

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