my question is , Is it acceptable or common practice to be discharged from hospital after having a relapse that has rendered someone unable to walk or stand , and for that person to be sent home to live in her front room in a hospital bed with a comode that she cant use ? the bathroom and toilet are upstairs and inaccessible so no washing facilities either . The hospital are going to arrange carers but how often and how many we haven’t been told .
i think its inhumane . i am her x-husband i should explain
Its grim, but you will find the commode (to be emptied by carers) is classed as toilet facilities, and if there is water downstairs (kitchen) then she will be able to be washed by carers.
Appalling, I know but the same thing happened to my 80 year old mother.
All you can do is chivvy social services and make sure she gets the help required. Usually this type of care package is for 6 weeks so look out for that.
after the 6 weeks, social services should have arranged carers to go in every day,make sure this is put into practice as an assessment should be made of her needs to make sure she is getting help.you can ring social services and ask for a needs assessment and if she has carer they can get a carers assessment too.
Same thing happened to my 89-year-old mother-in-law after she broke her hip. She rented a stairlift for a few weeks and now has moved to a disabled-accessible flat 10 minutes walk from where we live. As a nation, we need to have a conversation about caring for the elderly and disabled. Our National Health Service is breaking under the strain.
Not sure if all health authorities are the same through out the UK, but when my father was being discharged from hospital after spending some time there his house was assessed by the local health authority to see if he would need any aids to help him around the house.
You could ring the local council for advise or social services.
unfortunately its a privately rented house and the occupational therapist team said it is to small to do any alterations to , even if the landlord agreed .
Then she may have to seriously look at moving out. It depends what wrong with her, whether there is hope of improvement. Whether she is willing to move - my mom resisted it till it was frankly impossible to do otherwise.
You say you are her ex. Without being nosy, does she live alone? Is there support from family or neighbours. If you are asking on her behalf and with her permission, I should contact social services and explain situation. BUT they are going to want to talk to her and her next of kin - whoever she has nominated.
Coming a bit late to this conversation but the same thing happened to me six months ago. I am 69 and was unable to transfer myself. I was sent home from hospital with a Ross Return which is sort of like a porter’s trolley and needed two people in attendance. This meant I could only go to the toilet 4 times a day when the carers were in attendance. To make matters worse they sent me home with a very bad urine infection which took 6 weeks to clear up! I also had bowel problems. I’ll leave you to imagine what sort of state I was in and how demoralised I was.
The nights were terrible with carers putting me to bed around 8 and coming to get me up 12 or 13 hours later. My wretched bladder wouldn’t let me sleep for more than 2 or three hours then I was awake the rest of the night. One night the fire alarm went off in my block of flats and I thought I was going to be burnt to a crisp! I was completely disempowered. Even when the District Nurse called round each day to administer my injection she couldn’t take me to the loo even if I was crying with desperation - had to be two people.
My advice would be to make as much noise as possible to as many people as possible until somebody listens. Don’t just let it happen. With me, eventually, I was referred to the Community Matron, a wonderful man who really got things moving. He got me a hospital type bed for starters which has helped me such a lot. More importantly he pestered a local hospital until I was admitted to their rehab ward.On the first day they showed me how to use a walking frame with arm supports (a gutter frame) to transfer myself from bed or chair to commode. The next day they told me I could go home!
Now, 4 months later, I have regained most of my independence. No more carers (they were wonderful though) I wash dress and feed myself, manage my own meds and best of all go to the loo whenever I want! Still can’t walk but I manage with a mobility scooter for outside and a powered wheelchair indoors (a recent acquisition, before I managed to use one leg to scootch around in an ordinary one).
Today I used the mobility scooter to go across to my surgery for the inaugural meeting of their Patient Participation Group. Hopefully I will be able to put my own experience to good use.
So if you want to help your ex make as much fuss as you can until somebody does something! As I say I’m late to this conversation so I really hope things have been resolved satisfactorily by now.