Hospital Discharge

[lizziemun]

Not sure if this is this right place.

My Grandad (85yrs) is and has been in and out of hospital/convalescent home since May.

A bit of background He had a stroke 12yrs ago and is paralysed down his left side and has no strength to stand up. He also has a bag on as he has now got a prostate probelm. He live in warden accommadation by himself.

The hospital social worker want to discharge him on thursday, but the OT and Physio do not want to discharge him as he can not look after himself.

What i trying to ask is can they just discharge him with no means of looking after himself. they are saying that they can discharge him and just have someone go in 4 times aday and this is what he needs. Although he cannot make himself any food and drink or take himself to the toilet.

What has the social worker organised for his meals? Nothing at all? How do they expect him to eat?

AS for going to the toilet - if he has a urinary catheter then I think the district nurses should be made aware of this.

If you don't feel as though they have organised enough care for him, then speak to the nurses looking after him, and the doctors as well. Ask for a meeting of all the health care professionals involved in his care, and you attend as well with all the questions.

This should all be sorted before his discharge.

Belgo thanks for replying.

The hospital social worker is saying that they will have someone to come in and get him up and put him to bed and once during the day, and the district nurse to call once a day. This is our worry we tried to speak to the social worker yesterday that he is unable to care/feed himself but she would not listen to us saaying that she had spoken to him and had agreed with him that he could go home. We later phoned the ward to find she hadn't even seen him yesterday.

As for speaking to the doctor we are still waiting to speak to him/her since he was moved to the stoke ward 5 weeks ago. My uncle has spend the last two tuesday's in the hospial for 4/5 hours waiting for them to finish their meeting only to be told that they have gone home because the meeting run late.

If you are not happy with the care that they have organised for him or lack of it! Ring your local Patient Advice Liason Service (PALS) office who should either be based at your Local Primary Care Trust or Health Hospital. Sometimes they are based in a hospital. Ask to speak to the PALS Manager.

It's not up to a social worker to assess whether or not he can care/feed himself. That's the job of the OT and physio, and if they aren't happy for him to go home, you need to speak to them again.

They are only setting him up for a failed discharge if they discharge him without a full care package being in place.

Mishymoo

We have spoken to pals and they have treid to help but got the same response as us.

The trouble is that he doesn't need to be hospital as he is as medically well as he can be IYKWIM. We thought we had got it organised for him to be moved into a nursing home as a temp measure (agreed by OT and physio) yesterday morning to be reassed in a month time only to be told by socail worker that this would not be happening because of funding. We trying to arrange a meeting with social worker manager (which will have to be next week when mum on holiday or after 7pm in the evening) as we are not happy for him to be sent home as he will back in hospital within a week as this is what happen at the beginning of june when discharged him them. The social worker told mum yesterday that is was her responsilbity to look after him. But wouldn't listen when mum said she can not do this as she works FT and live an hour away.

Grandad lives in Cockfosters north london, Mum live in Luton, my Aunt lives in Leighton Buzzard and one Brother lives in Swindon and the other in northants and all work ft and no one can look after him ft.

Sounds like you're hitting your head against a brick wall.

You have to persevere, try and speak to the doctors and head nurses as they should have the most influence.

The district nurses and other people called in to care for home won't be happy if his discharge isn't organised properly. Can you phone up the district nurses?

I'm sorry but that's not good enough from PALS - they need to push for a better care package! I used to work for a PCT and our PALS manager was like a dog with a bone!

I can't understand how a social worker can determine his level of care when medical staff are saying no!

I know funding can be an issue but they have to provide adequate care!

I really feel for you and I hope you get this sorted ASAP. I think you are right asking to meet with the Social Worker Manager - can you see if someone from PALS can also go along to the meeting?

I have to the lady from PALS was not happy about our treatment or how she was treated and will be taking it further.

I have to say we HATE Chase Farm Hospital.