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Treating 'confused' patients in a general hospital
- By Cassie
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Sun 30 Dec 2007 13:29
My Husband had to be admitted to hospital recently because of serious medical problems. He also has dementia and when he was admitted was in a very confused state. He was kept on a trolley in A&E for 6 hours before being admitted to a general 'admission' ward at 1am. I advised staff that he was confused and likely to try to get out of the ward.
When I visited the next day he had got out of the ward unnoticed - wearing hospital pyjamas. No-one had noticed he was missing until I asked where he was. He probably had been wandering the corridors for about 2hrs before being taken to the Casualty Dept. Thankfully he wears a medi-tag bracelet with his name,dob etc. He hadn't been given a hospital identification bracelet.
A lot has happened since then - he was moved immediately to a more appropriate ward. I have had a reply to my complaint letter etc. But I am concerned on a much broader level about the way dementia patients are dealt with in a general hospital. Is anything being done nationally about this? Any info would be useful - thanks.
Replies
- By snowblue
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Re: Treating 'confused' patients in a general hospital
Sun 30 Dec 2007 23:53Hello Cassie, I know how it feels! My husband had Alzheimers and Dementia and was in hospital in July. He also was very confused, one word of warning: make sure you know what medication the doctors and the nursing staff are giving him.Make sure the nursing staff know what Dementia is & that patients need reassurance! If they give him sedatives it would only confuse him more & he might like my husband have a fall which they won' t tell you about.
- By snowblue
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Re: Treating 'confused' patients in a general hospital
Mon 31 Dec 2007 00:01Hello again, There is a consultation taken place in and around the London Regions about the NHS, if you log on to: www.healthcareforlondon.nhs.uk and find the hospital or the region close to you, you can have your say. Good luck1
- By Cassie
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Re: Treating 'confused' patients in a general hospital
Mon 31 Dec 2007 14:33Thanks Snowball. I live in the Glasgow area, but will keep on trying to get some advice.
The hospital can fit a tag in certain circumstances, but it just seems such a big problem that I think something more structured should be put in place on a national basis.
I have contacted my MP and will definitely pursue this.
- By marie66
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Re: Treating 'confused' patients in a general hospital
Wed 2 Jan 2008 17:59Hi Cassie, I'm in Ayrshire and had a similar kinda thing this year too!
Although not with dementia - my husband has Epilepsy and is very mobile during seizure activity and equally confused and disorientated afterwards!He was admitted into our local hospital with pneumonia and was having 30 seizures a day so things were pretty bad.
He was put into a ward and chaos ensued - the full place was in melt down as he seized and bounced in and over everyhing in sight and all over the place every 20-30 minutes or so!
The long and short of it is: we complained to Epilepsy Scotland and got them to help us sort things out with the local hospital so we wouldn't need to go through this ordeal ever again.
It's now noted on his file, for future admissions he cannot be accomodated in a ward situation and will need to be alllocated a side room where a family member will stay with him for the duration.
I know it's not ideal and won't work for everyone but it's the best we could get in our circumstances.
Maybe there's an agency who could help you sort something appropriate?
Just a thought.
marie x
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By chenrezig
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Re: Treating 'confused' patients in a general hospital
Wed 2 Jan 2008 18:48My father is in hospital at the moment. In one of the side rooms is a gentlemen who is supposed to be in isolation. He repeatedly wanders around the ward sitting in various chairs - to add to that, he sometimes wanders around in various states of undress. Another gentleman who was admitted to my fathers ward (his bed is opposite my father's)was left on his bed without any clothes on - the curtains around him had not been drawn, my father who is unable to get out of his bed had to suffer this sight until another nurse returned to attempt to get this patient dressed. It also raises the question of this patient's dignity.