Unacceptable...

Playlist

Fehlfarben - 33 Tage In Ketten

The British Library - British Bird Sounds On CD

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selections 2014-2018

The heatwave, etc...

At 2:30 today, mum was discharged - I was advised around 4 but only on calling the hospital to find out what was happening - when they said they'd phone me on her exit from the ward...

Arrived at five and she was kind of ok...

She still had a catheter fitted, rather haphazardly it seemed but then, I am no medical expert...

When she made her way to the kitchen, it was trailing along the ground - she could easily have stood on it and accidentally pulled it out, or tripped over it...

Her care package had been reinstated and, around 6:30 the carer duly arrived...

The carer had not been advised of any catheter scenario...

This was a less than ideal situation (as had been the way the bag had been attached to mum's leg, via straps which were plainly cutting into said leg and now the weight of the bag meant the tap was trailing on the floor)...

A thing was found in a bag brought home from the hospital which, it turned out, was supposed to house the catheter bag...

The carer sorted this and emptied the bag...

Look away now...

As you can see from the above, it would not be possible for someone who cannot walk without the aid of sticks or a zimmer to empty the bottom tap...

Yet the hospital claimed mum had been taken to the bathroom this morning and given training...

Indeed, it was claimed she had emptied the bag herself into the toilet...

She would have had to have lifted her foot up onto the edge of the pan...

Impossible that this happened...

And so, some rectification took place but then it was advised that, a night catheter is required...

For the carer to fit this mum would need to go to bed at 6:30 every day and not rise till 10:45 the next morning, as she had no idea as to how to empty the bag or attach the night catheter...

And if she had to get up in the night, she could easily forget the night catheter was attached and trip over it or pull the catheter out...

To cap it all, the night catheter was absent from the items sent home with mum...

Various calls to the care agency and mum's ex-ward ensued...

A taxi was sent out (NHS wastage) with the forgotten items - mum still being expected to cope with this with just 30 minutes carer attendance per day - for up to four weeks - until an appointment had been advised for the Urology Dept and, said appointment came around...

The carer left after a 15 minute visit had been elongated to around two hours...

In the end I weighed up mum sitting on her own at home watching the TV versus sitting by her bed in hospital with no TV and her walking occasionally to the kitchen versus being able to take a walk around the ward or along a corridor, and having 30 minutes' support and having to be in bed from 18:15 through to 10:45 each day versus being looked after by the hospital...

In each case, the latter was the better option...

The charge nurse on the ward consulted the higher echelons of the hospital and I was advised mum could be taken back to the ward tonight - I could either do this by car or we could call NHS 24 and have her transported by ambulance but that that might entail a wait of four hours or more...

Friday night drunks in A&E and all that...

As we were prepping to head to the hospital in the car, sister Sheila and Andrew Snr arrived for a surprise visit to perk the hospital dischargee up - unaware of what had been happening...

Andrew helped me out with mum in her wheelchair and me and mum drove back to the hospital...

I finally left around 10, with mum back in her old bed and after a long discussion with the charge nurse re mum's inability to cope at home with a catheter in place and the dangers advised by the carer of her having a night catheter in place and the length of time she'd need to be in bed...

And so now, it may be some time until she sees this again...

The hospital clearly had not thought through this situation - the physios had declared her able to walk - fine - two nurse swear they took her to the bathroom and trained her on how to empty the catheter - frankly unbelievable (and something of which mum has zero recollection - not something you'd forget easily, surely?) - no mention of night catheters or what that entailed - and sent home with the bag roughly tied to her leg, cutting into her due to the weight of the then full bag - and no night catheter equipment or any information whatsoever on being at home with a catheter in place (that all arrived later by taxi)...

Not the best, not the best at all....

Finally home and some element of relaxation ensued after what had been a very, very long day...

Today's artwork, "Unacceptable"...

Highlight of the Day : Seeing mum back in her hospital bed...