Nhs Care Missing

Hello could someone possibly give me some advice please. My Grandmother was admitted to hospital on Tuesday evening with a chest infection, urinary infection, having suffered a bad fall on Sunday morning and having had two tumours removed from her forehead and neck together with a skin graft the previous week. The original operation was done under local anesthetic and she was returned home covered in dried blood some 4 hours after she went in. She is 85 years old. In the last 10 days she has been in and out of hospital 3 times, for tests, and most recently because her GP felt she should not spend another night at home. It turns out she was one day away from pneumonia. I have now been told, as has my mother, that she will be released tommorow. I started to express my disliking of her treatment to a nurse and she tried to correct me about why she had been admitted, and then started talking business babble, quoting policy! I tried to explain to her that the policy was wrong and she said she found my attitude threatening! I was angry and left. Does anyone know of anyway to get these people to do their job properly! I don't want my Gran to die in a couple of days time and then get an appology from Poole NHS Trust six months later. Can her GP insist she stays in? What action can I take?

 

A friend of mine with reasonably serious MS had a relapse and was in hospital a few weeks ago. The usual nurse who helped him was gone and a new nurse there said that he was not allowed steroids because 'they don't work for you'. He didn't know who had told her that, since they had always worked before and it wasn't his GP! He struggled to receive any treatment and asked to speak to the main nurse in charge. The new nurse didn't allow him top speak to the main nurse until he threatened legal action on the grounds of his human rights being abused and said he had contacts with the Guardian. When he did get to speak to the main nurse in charge, he was given the treatment he needed the next day! It seems that the other nurse had been deciding what treatment was right for him all by herself and not letting him talk to anyone else. In that time he had been developing leasions (sp?) on his spinal chord.

 

You want to make yourself noticed so an immediate complaint to the senior management of the hospital, the local health authority and your MP will ensure you're not put on the back burner. I know its hard when they're your point of contact but don't harangue the nurses they are the foot soldiers. Go for the generals and the policy makers. Make yourself a bloody nuisance with the administrators. I've been there and can feel the frustration you are suffering. Ask your GP what they or you can do. Don't be frightened to involve the press. Again that can focus the minds of management remarkably!

 

Thanks very much indeed, I appreciate your advice. Think I will take tommorow of work and see what we can get resolved.Thanks.

 

get everything in writing. if you do not agree with a decision being made INSIST on it being explained to you on paper. if they ask why then say you want it for a possible law suit if anything happens to your relative. if they start giving you gyp about not enough time then ask them to give you their refusal on paper and say that there will definately be a law suit if something happens.
it may also be worth calling one of the more muck raking rags or tv stations (even the local paper might be worth a call) basicly make it less time consuming for them to treat your relative as they should than to deal with all your shit.
the thing is don;t ever, ever be abusive, sarcastic or snotty with them. always play the part of concerned relative and if possible have someone else there with you. that way they can;t pull the 'i feel you're being threatinging card and have the police cart you off if you are taking up too much of their time'.
if you can get into a head honchos office, park yourself there and filibuster them untill you get the results you want.
i have the greatest of respect for the nhs - they kept my dad alive for many years beyond the initial estimate they gave him however if they are treating a loved one badly they need to be called on it.

 

Thankyou julian. I must make it understood that I was not in any way abusive or threatening to the nurse. I could hardly get my words out as I was so frustrated. The correct response to me would have been to offer me a seat and listen not to try and 'win' an argument. I am always aware of my size (I'm six foot five) and do my best not to come across as threatening but I realise I might well be, which is sad. This is why I left, I have to take another persons word over my own judgement on this matter.

 

Take someone with you next time ben, preferably not a family member who can observe the situation.

Getting everything in writing and asking people for their full names often focuses things up very quickly.

 

Hello, have made progress today. We voiced our concerns to the doctor and registrar. It turns out she does have pneumonia in her left lung, though they new this and still wanted to send her home today. They have agreed, in light of our concerns , that she will stay in hospital over the weekend and be re-evaluated on Monday. It is baffling to me that because we complained they have changed their plan of action. If their opinion was based on medical judgment then our complaint should have made no difference, but it has so one can only assume that they will treat someone as little as possible to minimise expenditure and workload. This is good news in a way but shows to me that my concerns were totally correct. What happened to the hippocratic oath? Thanks to all.

 

Start here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/OrganisationPolicy/ComplaintsPolicy/fs/en

I am currently going thru appeal and complaint with the local PCT over funding for my fathers nursing home, as his condition is medical and not social.
We have also experienced poor hospital treatment for my father.
One thing I can tell you, you need to follow the proper complaints procedures or you won't get any coherent response. This would normally involve contacting PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Services) http://www.pals.nhs.uk/.
They will take up the complaint and look in to matters.
If you are still not satisfied they will adives on further steps you can take.

 

Thanks very much for the advice. It turns out that my Grandmother had a bit of an episode in the early hours of this morning and the nurse (on the ward) had to call a doctor. Apparently there is no way she is coming out of hospital on Monday. Just shows if they had discharged her on Friday what might very well have happened. Thanks again.

 

Just heard about a friend of my mums… This friend is nearly 80 and she went to hospital to have something done that involved an operation near one of her kidneys. The operation went well but then a few weeks later she was feeling very bad. She went back and had an x-ray and her GP told her that the kidney she had the operation near was fine, but that she was missing her other one! 'Well I had two when I went in!' she said, lol!

They 'made enquiries' but no one knew anything (what a surprise). So, 'it must have not happened when you were in hospital' was what she was told!

So what happened to it?! Did it fall out while she was asleep? Did it slip down her leg? Who knows?! And thats it, they are not doing anything more. She went in with two and came out with one.

 

Just a little update, my Gran has been out of hospital for about a week now and it would appear she has made a good recovery. She was kept in hospital for a total of three weeks until she had regained her strength during which time my Mother and I visited every day. I must admit to only now starting to be able to relax again a little. Thanks.

 

A somewhat rare good ending to a thread in this chat section!

I am glad for you and your Gran, must be a huge weight off your mind.