[Misc] Man starves to death in hospital

[herecomesaregular]

I had clients I worked with who went into hospital and elderly relatives. From that experience I would always insist that if you have someone you know in hospital that you or someone else visits them regularly (preferably daily). Sadly, you cannot assume that they have a drink nearby they can reach or food given to them regularly, or that they take medication prescribed to them (tablets were often left near to them but out of reach) or that they are helped to the toilet frequently enough. Nursing staff are mostly excellent but ... you really can't assume so, sadly. This case is shocking but does not surprise me.

 

[clapham_gull]

Broken hip, dementia, Down’s syndrome and difficulty swallowing so the odds were stacked against the poor guy.

In the UK in 2021 ?

Each to his own.....

When my late mother was in hospital in London post pandemic, I travelled daily to ensure she was fed properly. In fact I was advised to do by by the nutritionist team.

 

[clapham_gull]

Inadequate social care (local authorities) is the greatest issue. If the proper funding was in place, the NHS and hospitals wouldn’t be the dumping ground / last resort for everyone in need.

Everyone has different experiences, but my late mother was fed better when she got out of the hospital system. Some hospitals are a horror show food wise.

"Feeding" often involves dumping sub standard food (you'd feed to a dog) in front of someone and hoping they interact with it even if they are asleep.

When they wake up and don't fancy the stale cold slop in front of them, they are deemed as "difficult"

Luckily I was able to take her food in every day, as advised by the clinical staff.

 

[Cotton Socks]

So many horror stories. How on Earth can anyone fix the NHS?
Money has been thrown at it with no improvement for decades.

A holistic approach would be a good start. My mum is on 3 or 4 different waiting lists, all dependent on what consultants from other departments say. X dept says she needs this, Y dept says she needs that, Z dept says she needs something else. X,Y and Z depts. don't communicate with each other. She'll get to the top of the list in X dept, for them to say, she needs to see what Z dept says and will go on the waiting list for that. Meanwhile the ailment that she's being seen for in Y dept is getting worse but to get that sorted she has to wait for dept Z. Dept Z says yes to dept Y but then dept Y needs to check with dept X. And so it goes round on an endless cycle of waiting lists to get no where. If just someone took control and said X, Y, Z needs to be done, in order of Z, X, Y it would make things so much easier for everyone involved. 4 years of trying to get X, Y, Z sorted, but messed up because the holistic approach wasn't there to check what X dept said.
There doesn't seem to be any logic applied to the order which things should be done. I don't think I need to have medical knowledge to say to get the serious thing done first then put her on the waiting lists for the others. If X, Y and Z dept have a chat to each other then they could all stop my mum getting hopeful about having something done, to then be told that they're waiting for one of them.
Just as an aside, I filled in a disabled parking badge application for my dad last year, I had to give them pretty much his entire medical history and send his notes with it. I could understand the notes, but I fail to see how someone at the blue badge dept could. It turns out from something my dad said the other day that I knew something from his notes that he didn't. I haven't decided whether he was spoken to in jargon that he didn't understand, didn't take it seriously or 'forgot' to mention it. He did actually seem surprised when he said about it, and seemed even more surprised when I said I know as I sent off his notes to the blue badge people.
Joined up thinking is required.

 

[Cotton Socks]

Everyone has different experiences, but my late mother was fed better when she got out of the hospital system. Some hospitals are a horror show food wise.

"Feeding" often involves dumping sub standard food (you'd feed to a dog) in front of someone and hoping they interact with it even if they are asleep.

When they wake up and don't fancy the stale cold slop in front of them, they are deemed as "difficult"

Luckily I was able to take her food in every day, as advised by the clinical staff.

My mum was given a 'menu' at night that she had to fill out for the next day. No concern was given to the fact she was off her nut on morphine and could hardly speak. If she didn't eat the 'meals' that were put in front of her the next day, they were taken away uneaten. No one noted down that her meals were left, they were brought in by the catering staff and taken away by the catering staff, who are separate to the nursing staff. In a nursing hiome it would be put on the patient notes that a patient hadn't eaten or drank, that doesn't seem to happen in hospitals (or at least the one's my mum has been in).

 

[ManOfSussex]

Everything would be worse under a Labour government apparently, so put this down as a 'one off.' This is Britain and everything is alright. It's okay. It's fine.

 

[Weststander]

Everything would be worse under a Labour government apparently, so put this down as a 'one off.' This is Britain and everything is alright. It's okay. It's fine.

Nailed on Labour government next. We’ll very soon find out if the quality of life for patients in NHS hospitals changes.

 

[Weststander]

My mum was given a 'menu' at night that she had to fill out for the next day. No concern was given to the fact she was off her nut on morphine and could hardly speak. If she didn't eat the 'meals' that were put in front of her the next day, they were taken away uneaten. No one noted down that her meals were left, they were brought in by the catering staff and taken away by the catering staff, who are separate to the nursing staff. In a nursing hiome it would be put on the patient notes that a patient hadn't eaten or drank, that doesn't seem to happen in hospitals (or at least the one's my mum has been in).

Some nursing homes screw up on that too, Mrs.W has caught them out, residents with dehydration and medical conditions as a direct result …. the manager/staff hopelessly didn’t know.

Standards vary a great deal.

 

[portlock seagull]

I think people are just doing their best. Inevitably some receive less than they deserve whilst others deserve less than they receive.

 

[Cotton Socks]

Some nursing homes screw up on that too, Mrs.W had caught them out, residents with dehydration and conditions as a direct result …. the manager/staff hopelessly didn’t know.

Standards vary a great deal.

It's such a basic thing that the only time it should be not monitored, is when an end of life care plan is put in place.

 

[The Grockle]

This is my local hospital, currently ranked 91st in the UK. Poole like my most towns has it's problems and deprivation but is also very affluent with some of the most expensive real estate in the country. Just goes to show that living in a wealthy area doesn't always mean you have access to the best healthcare.