Unexplained Bruises

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Talking to a friend, his father is in hospital the past few weeks and isn't expected to recover. The hospital are anxious for him to be taken home, but the family are refusing as he's in obvious pain and so far nobody will put a timescale on how long he may have left. He could lie in agony at home in his bed for a month for all they know.

He has fallen out of bed a couple of times in hospital, and hurt himself. The nurses have put a sign saying "Fall Alert" on his bed. The family aren't happy with the treatment he's getting, they have to go asking for his catheter to be emptied, and he's often thirsty when they go and see him.

Now he has some fresh bruises on his arms and when asked about them the nurse's just shrug. This naturally just isn't good enough, and they're wondering what their options are?

If they're not getting the answers they require, how and to who do they complain?

lulu1

If I was this mans family I would be asking more questions. I cannot believe that he was left in a situation where he fell out of bed, I know from family members who work in the hse that the bed sides should be left up at all times for elderly patients. As for the bruising it could be a number of things maybe from having bloods done or some types of medication can cause bruising but in any case I wouldnt stop until i got to the bottom of it.

It should make no difference wheather he is a public or private patient he deserves to be treated with dignity

Graces7

The Cunning Linguist wrote: »

Talking to a friend, his father is in hospital the past few weeks and isn't expected to recover. The hospital are anxious for him to be taken home, but the family are refusing as he's in obvious pain and so far nobody will put a timescale on how long he may have left. He could lie in agony at home in his bed for a month for all they know.

He has fallen out of bed a couple of times in hospital, and hurt himself. The nurses have put a sign saying "Fall Alert" on his bed. The family aren't happy with the treatment he's getting, they have to go asking for his catheter to be emptied, and he's often thirsty when they go and see him.

Now he has some fresh bruises on his arms and when asked about them the nurse's just shrug. This naturally just isn't good enough, and they're wondering what their options are?

If they're not getting the answers they require, how and to who do they complain?

Please see the HSE complaint procedure site http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/yourhealthservice/feedback/Complaints/ If you are uncertain where to contact fill in the online form in as much detail as you can, place, date etc and they WILL forward it and investigate. I have used this system and it does work.. Hoping you get some great improvement in your fathers care. Heartbreaking enough without this.

lulu1

Fill in a complaints by all means but I wouldn't stop until I got answers from someone in authority in the ward that was supposed to be caring for an elderly gentleman. For a nurse to shrug her shoulders is just not on.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

lulu1 wrote: »

Fill in a complaints by all means but I wouldn't stop until I got answers from someone in authority in the ward that was supposed to be caring for an elderly gentleman. For a nurse to shrug her shoulders is just not on.

She didn't physically shrug, to be fair, but the sentiment is the same. Didn't get any answers.

liquoriceall

lulu1 wrote: »

If I was this mans family I would be asking more questions. I cannot believe that he was left in a situation where he fell out of bed, I know from family members who work in the hse that the bed sides should be left up at all times for elderly patients. As for the bruising it could be a number of things maybe from having bloods done or some types of medication can cause bruising but in any case I wouldnt stop until i got to the bottom of it.



It should make no difference wheather he is a public or private patient he deserves to be treated with dignity

It is often safer to leave cot sides down with confused patients as its further to fall if they climb over the cot side! Would the family consider offering to provide a sensor pad for under him like you pop under your baby so if he stops moving it goes off.....ie if he goes to move off the bed they are alerted and can get to him before he falls
Bruises could be caused by any number of things such as him stumbling when being moved and a staff member grabbing him to prevent a fall
However the safest thing for the family to do at this point is request for a social worker to be involved a hold a meeting with the nurse manager, family etc

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

liquoriceall wrote: »

Would the family consider offering to provide a sensor pad

Wouldn't the hospital already have these? It seems amazing in this day and age that a family should have to provide equipment to a hospital to enable them to fulfil their duty of care. Not that they'd be against it, it just seems incredible.

lynski

When my dad was in his final weeks in hospital we had to have a family member with him during daytime as the staff did not have time to feed or clean him or take him to the bathroom.

lulu1

A family member works as a home help and attends a 90 year old gentelman. She says she would never leave the man at night time without putting the sides of the bed up.
The man went into respite for a week and the first night he was in he fell out of the bed. The gentelman is of sound mind and told the nurses to leave the sides down. They never met this man before and at his age the should have put the sides up because they didnt know what he was like at night time and never asked
The poor man was black and blue when he came out..There was never anything done about it but he would never go in for respite after that

liquoriceall

The hospital may or may not have them? The reason the cot sides arent always used is that they are considered a form of restraint and if the person says they dont want them its not very ethical to ignore their wishes?
It would be a good idea to ask about the sensor pad for sure

lulu1

I might have to disagree with you there. I would have though in the interest of safety it would be better to ignore his wishes than to have him fall out of bed.
To me that is the same thing as if the gentleman said I don't want to take my medication would the carers say Oh well we have to respect his wishes.
Just to say I have nothing atal against the nursing profession or hospitals as any time I needed them they were just brilliant bar 1 and you get that everywhere

liquoriceall

lulu1 wrote: »

I might have to disagree with you there. I would have though in the interest of safety it would be better to ignore his wishes than to have him fall out of bed.
To me that is the same thing as if the gentleman said I don't want to take my medication would the carers say Oh well we have to respect his wishes.
Just to say I have nothing atal against the nursing profession or hospitals as any time I needed them they were just brilliant bar 1 and you get that everywhere

Of course unless someone is mentally unsound and is in hospital under a mental health order yes you respect their wishes and dont assault them by force feeding them medications! You explain rationales, get family involved etc but you do not assualt patients!

lulu1

Thats exactly what I mean yes you would get family involved as well as explaining to the patient re bed rails or meds or about any other concerns you may have as to insure they dont come to any harm while in hospital care

Graces7

lulu1 wrote: »

Fill in a complaints by all means but I wouldn't stop until I got answers from someone in authority in the ward that was supposed to be caring for an elderly gentleman. For a nurse to shrug her shoulders is just not on.

The way the complaints system works does this with greater authority than we can do. Believe me. I tried the first way and got nowhere but then via the HSE site and they sorted the issues very fast. They pass the complaint on to the source of the problem with orders to sort it fast. Always aware of possible legal action these days.