Care of the elderly

[radiohelen]

here

Ok - dons hard hat - I know that the NHS is beleaguered and we should all be feeling sorry for the poor nurses on the front line but WTF is going on???

I have been in hospital a bit over the last five years or so and on every occasion where I have been in or around a ward with elderly people I have been pretty sickened by the treatment they have had dished out to them.

One guy was clearly finding it difficult to feed himself but his food was just left in front of him. He kept ringing the bell to ask for help to sit up but the nursing assistant who came to his bell needed help, went off to get it and never came back. He never got his dinner. I had to leave my husband (with his broken leg) on watch to make sure the chap got fed his dinner. DH says there were also difficulties with toileting.

On another ward overnight an elderly Chinese lady was having difficulties, pain I think, and kept buzzing the nurses. The African nurse who came to her aid made no effort to understand her accent and what she was saying and kept telling her off for buzzing in a thick accent that I had trouble with, let alone the lady on the bed. She just left her.

Surely nurses and nursing assistants can and should do better than this?
Just because you got a degree it doesn't mean you can't wipe someones backside or feed them their dinner. If you come to this country to nurse then you should bloody well make an effort to make yourself understood and take time to understand what others are saying to you.

Just saying.

ducks under parapet

[Mell123]

Might be a long shot because this was 2 years ago but I was researching about stobhill hospital and I came across this about your dad TwoIfBySea being transferred to the rehabilitation ward and then getting worse. My Grandad had a fall and was in the royal hospital and according to them he was getting better just had to build him up as he was quite weak. He was talkative and able to get up on his own. He then got moved to stobhill hospital and into the rehabilitation ward and things just went down hill from there and he died and we believe they just fast tracked him to die just like you said about your dad and I was wondering if anything happened when you complained ?

[JustinBsMum]

CanI ask you radiohelen approx how long it took you to give the elderly gent his lunch. Did you chat and slowly help him to eat? Did you shovel it in quick?
Can you now estimate how long it might have taken you to assist him from the bed to the loo, help him into his wheelchair, take him to the toilet, help him off the wc onto the loo, stood around outside the door waiting for him to perform, nipped back in as soon as he shouted to get him off loo onto chair, then over to the sink to wash his hands, wait while he dries his hands, then back to bedside, then into bed?

Now multiply that by the number of times a day you might have to do that, say 3 times for each task, then by the number of dependent patients in the ward???

Anyway, you get my drift.

Until my mother was elderly and needed a wheelchair I had no comprehension of how long a simple trip to the loo could take. Let alone the amount of patience I had to find to carry it out regularly and without rushing her.

I think the general public have no clue how demanding and time consuming this 'caring' is.