I wonder if I could run this by members please? My husband is 82 and non medically compliant. The District Nurses have been visiting for 3 years to try and manage his sores but discharged him in September with Cavalon sticks. In fairness, they did arrange the GP to phone to make sure he realised the potential consequences of being non compliant as in having a bath everyday so disturbing the sores and sleeping on a chair rather than the offered hospital bed! I was told by one of the nicer nurses that he would NOT be discharged and they would cut the visits down then one day they did not turn up and when I phoned I was told he had been discharged. In fairness, the skin on his buttocks, although fragile was not broken.
A couple of weeks ago, the skin seemed to be breaking down. Due to the blood thinners there was some bleeding which to me, seemed quite severe. I have no dressings. I did phone the GP Surgery since I was worried I might be considered ‘negligent’ if I did not get advice (despite husband having ‘Mental Capacity’ and myself having no medical training ) .We saw a Health care Assistant who told me not to dress the wound, and to use just the Cavalon. On Friday early evening, it bled very heavily - all over his gown and the bathroom. We managed to stop it but when he got up a few hour later it started again and the blood was coming down his legs not pouring but enough to be substantial. It has been more or less ok since then but there is a wound.
A kind friend has sent some large Allevyn dressings which she used for her late husband and I think I am going to suggest husband wears these when he goes out to protect the sore. He has a scan on 21st plus it is my 60th birthday later this month and with Xmas we do have things booked if he is well enough to go.
My plan I think is to monitor over Xmas period and if does get worse or no better, maybe write to the GP Surgery for advice in the New Year? If it does deteroiate then I will try to get him to the GP Surgery but it is a nightmare to get through. Also I am ambivalent about the nurses coming back as I had 2 days a week totally at their beck and call as had no idea when they were going to arrive. A key safe is NOT an option partially due to the cats, but also due to the fact that if they start coming 2x a week I need to be there to listen to what dressings I should put on the other days. I was always taught that if the wound bleeds cover it by the nicer nurses, but this is not what the Healthcare Assistant told me. I do know the nurses got frustrated with my husband having a bath every day, but he has damaged his bowel probably due to the non compliance re the lactulose, ad the Consultant told us that he would have to learn to live with the incontinence and in fairness, we have eventually got 4 incontinence pads a day for him. So I can understand him wanting and even needing a daily bath.
I just wondered how other Carers coped with District Nurses and Pressure Sores? I do realise they can become infected but think I could probably pick this up. I do worry about being accused of neglect but the bottom line is that my husband is known to be medically non compliant and has mental capacity. The sad thing is if I got some support from the Surgery, I would do my best to manage the sores and not get the nurses who are very busy involved. Husband does not want nurses back as he is worried about the covid risk and I do know they are very stretched and stressed. But I do feel rather abandoned right now and am torn between my instincts which is to dress the sore or the medical advice from the HealthCare Assistant which is to leave it - but I am not sure she has taken into account the effect of the blood thinners although I did stress this. Thanks for reading if you have got this far - feel so out of my depth.