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Poor Care of a vulnerable disabled patient with dementia

Posted By Womb64

"Poor Care of a vulnerable disabled patient with dementia"

About: Russells Hall Hospital / Older people's healthcare

(as a carer),

My husband  is reliant on people for all his care due to his disability & vascular dementia. He was declared medically fit 10 days before he actually came home. They wouldn't let him come home because he wouldn't eat for them so I said he will at home but no they wouldn't let him out. Then they said his sugar levels weren't stable. Well no they wont be because he's in hospital & wont eat  properly. When he finally came home they'd put him on different insulin the day before & his blood sugar rose to 29 with ketones of 3.4 so had to phone 111 who sent paramedics who wanted to take him back to RH but he refused. He was so dehydrated he didn't pass urine properly for over 48 hours, he'd lost 2cm from the circumference of his arm. He had dirty dressings on. Dried hard food that had to be cut out of his beard. He couldn't drink as he had no strength to suck on straw  I had to use a syringe. His mouth was full of brown gunk & he couldn't communicate as he was so dry & had to blink for yes & no for me.Apparently they'd informed me of his deterioration. I'd love to know when they phoned me as I can prove from phone records that they didn't.

In my opinion they nearly let my husband die. They said he refused personal care  so why didn't they let him come home so I could look after him. A few days after being at home he is communicating well, eating & drinking, already putting weight on & his diabetes is stable again as he's back on his original insulin.

I'm disgusted that people who are supposed to care, people you trust your vulnerable loved ones with, can stand by & let someone deteriorate like that when all they needed to do in my view was let him come home & be looked after properly because there was nothing medically wrong to stop this happening.

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Responses

Response from Amirah Shaikh, Patient Experience Administrator, Patient Experience, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust 3 years ago
Amirah Shaikh
Patient Experience Administrator, Patient Experience,
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 18/02/2021 at 09:01
Published on Care Opinion at 11:17

Thank you for taking the time to share feedback following your husband’s experience at our hospital.

We always aim to offer the highest standards of care and so we are very sorry that we fell short of those standards during your visits.

It is difficult to comment on your specific case without your details and reviewing your medical notes but we would welcome the opportunity to look into the concerns you have raised and hopefully resolve some of these issues for you. If you would like us to do this, please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on free phone 0800 073 0510 or email dgft.pals@nhs.net

Many thanks

Patient Experience Team

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Update posted by Womb64 (a carer)

How strange that this was put up 2 months ago & there was no response. He's in RH again at this moment & I've had to involve PALS again & one of the ward matrons. presumably because of this the ward he is now on are keeping me up to date on what's happening & trying to get him discharged. But I find it sad & upsetting that I have to shout & scream before people listen to me. The same mistakes have been happening time after time & nothing is ever done about it.

This is the standard response you get which makes me even more annoyed. PALS have been a great help this time & previous times. I feel so sorry for vulnerable people in RH who have no one to fight for them. Instead of having to keep apologising why don't you try& make sure things change & that the relatives/carers of people with dementia, the ones who know them best are listened to & kept updated especially when their loved ones keep being moved around the hospital.

Response from The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust 3 years ago
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 18/02/2021 at 16:29
Published on Care Opinion at 21:18

Thank you for your response. We are sorry that you feel that this is a standard response and would like to assure you that we welcome all feedback and that all comments are taken seriously, and acted upon as part of our ongoing commitment to improving patient experience.

We do not feel it is appropriate to go into too much detail in this forum as it is open to the public but we understand that our our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) are aware of your experience and are working with you to address any concerns.

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