Report reveals shocking examples of failings in nursing care
A hard-hitting report by the Patients Association has revealed shocking examples of serious failings in nursing care. The daughter of a woman treated in South Wales shares her account of her mother’s experience
“MY mother’s health had already started to decline before my father died.
Memory and mobility problems were noticeable before 2006 – after my father died she became more and more reliant on family and carers for day-to-day living.
After two falls in October 2009 she was admitted to the Princess of Wales Hospital, in Bridgend, for tests and observation. This was the first time my mother had stayed in hospital, having been in fairly good health for most of her 82 years.
We (her family) received conflicting information concerning her condition and future care – she had a fracture of the hip; she didn’t have a fracture; she had a chest infection; she had a urine infection.
It depended on whom we managed to speak to. If the family were confused, then my mother most certainly was greatly confused.
During her stay in hospital she was moved four times between wards. Staff were too busy to help her walk to the toilet – it saved time to either wheel her or bring a commode – also, to be on the safe side, incontinence pads were used.
I think this combination is part of the institutionalisation of patients and the reason my mother became incontinent.
On December 20 we were told my mother could go home the following day. This was obviously impossible to arrange at such short notice – she needed four care visits a day, special equipment put in place, not to mention arrangements with medication and pharmacy visits.
It seems rather harsh, but at this point we thought she would be safer where she was until after the holiday – it took some persuading for staff to see the sense in this.
On December 30 – just 10 days after we were told she could go home – we were told that it would be unlikely that my mother would go home unless she had 24-hour supervision and encouraged us to look for a placement in a residential home.
She stayed at the hospital until the end of January – we were hoping she wouldn’t be moved until a place was ready for her but bed-blocking necessitated a move, in the interim, to a community hospital – Maesgwyn.
February to April saw a further decline in my mother’s mental health.
During her stay at Maesgwyn my family mentioned to all levels of staff that mum’s needs were not being met satisfactorily but because of the rigid, institutional atmosphere we were concerned not to compromise her care by complaining too much.
She was not bathed or showered frequently enough. She was left to her own devices in the toilet – she couldn’t cope with incontinence pads and was seen on one occasion walking in the corridor with her underwear and pad around her lower legs, very distressed.
Underwear and clothes that were soiled were left in her wardrobe – resulting in the clean laundry smelling and possibly being contaminated. A senior nurse said she couldn’t be present all the time to prevent this.
Abridged
SOURCE: WalesOnline
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1 comment:
How can in this day and age this care system still be in place and allowed to happen? How in the world are we sleeping at night when our most important aged people are living in conditions like this?
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