Hello
The elderly person I am caring for needs an injection every day. How can I get someone in to deliver this at the same time every day (it is time sensitive). At the moment I am doing it but it means that my entire day is constrained every day and I’ve been doing this for 2 years. The district nurse has said that they won’t do it every day and the family has to make arrangements (!) and even doing it as a one-off they cannot guarantee what time - it could be any time of day, which of course is pointless.
Has anyone found any options to get an injection delivered each day, or has any suggestions?
Thanks
To be absolutely clear: you do not have any duty of care at all. You are within your rights to refuse to carry out the injections.
The only services with a duty of care are social services for social care and the NHS for medical care.
If the person you care for requires a time sensitive injection, then it is their duty of care to see that she gets it. That’s the law. In practice, it’s much less likely to happen. But it’s their problem, legally. And it’s always worth pointing out that you know this. Some years ago I had a case where an individual was incapable of injecting himself and a relative was told they had to do it. He was unhappy about this and I attended a meeting to support him, pointing out the above. District nurses delivered the injections. Timing was…sometimes a problem. But they accepted their duty of care.
If you are a paid carer working for a care company then raise it with your manager.
Think what do they do when you are on holiday leave
After knee surgery, in a private hospital, my consultant told me when I was discharged I would have to inject my stomach every day for a week or two. I said “You’re having a laugh aren’t you. No way can I do that!”
However, he then told me that they had just started using a tablet replacement at the General Hospital.
“Fine, I’ll have some too”.
Having had this experience, I’m wondering if there is any practical alternative to an injection?