@EEG Considering things properly and thinking things through carefully seems to be a step too far for the powers that be at the moment. The repercussions of actions are not being taken into account at all.
@Chris_22081….sorry to hear that you seem to be heading in the same way. Stay strong and continue to push for what’s right for G and just as importantly yourself. Medically fit to be discharged does not mean physically fit and it’s you who has to cope in the home environment. Sending lots of
@Chris_22081 Agree with Sue. No way are you going to be able to help G to the bathroom if he cannot manage himself. You have to think about YOUR back and your blood pressure and health because it appears from reading various posts over the last few months, no one in the Discharge Team will think of you and what care you are physically and emotionally able to provide? Maybe time to drop in ‘Potentially Dangerous Discharge?’
Why is it so difficult for shift working medical staff (with overtime, days off, holidays and sick pay) to realise that one unpaid carer with none of their advantages cannot manage a patient at home unless they are well enough to do their own basic care? Carers coming in 4 times a day for half an hour still leaves the unpaid carer to do the other 22 hours 7 days a week!
@bowlingbun This is if the patient is well enough to let them in! Otherwise Carer has to stay around and how often are they late or do not come? I know Keysafes would be pushed but to me they are totally and utterly my idea of hell.
Hmm - simple tea tonight - a pack of ham and cheese Tortelloni with half a jar of Carbonara sauce. five mins start to finish.
I agree with concerns over Discharge. The hint at the moment is that Graham will need to go into rehab to get him mobile again. I am hoping there is space at our local centre again - if so I will ask for immediate meeting with them to discuss what I can do to supplement their work to get him mobilised quickly. I am happy to put in that effort during my daily visits as it will help. The staff know me and will go along with the idea, I am sure, as it will make their work easier and they will get a faster result. G will work hard at it so he can get home sooner. (It would be walking corridors and using support bars to practice sidestepping and things like that so nothing dangerous).
I will be VERY stubborn if they try to send him home to quickly.
@Michael_CarersUK @Paola_Carers_UK
Please could you pass this on to your Policy team
’ In May 2022, NHS England tasked integrated care boards (ICBs) with getting 10,000 virtual ward beds up and running by the end of 2023, with £200m funding from the service development fund (SDF) available to help establish them.
Over the course of the year, the number of virtual beds jumped by 60% from 4,485 to 7,653, with the latest data indicating there are 11,635 across England (as of February 2024).
By the end of 2023, more than 240,000 patients had been treated on virtual wards, with a number of them likely to have avoided a hospital admission. And when publicising this data, NHS England cited research showing people who are treated at home recover at the same rate or faster than those treated in hospital.
But a new study seems to have steered the virtual ward flagship into stormy seas and cast doubt on the policy’s ability to live up to its promises.’
PDF is fully downloadable as open access doc
DISCUSSION
This study has shown that virtual ward patients had a
shorter length of stay in hospital but were more likely to
be readmitted, and when readmitted, had a lower chance
to survive compared with non-readmitted patients and
readmitted patients previously discharged from hospital.
I have already decided next time the hospital wants to off load onto me again with no support. I am going away. changing alarm code, changing the lock and going. Don’t know where but I’m off.
@UpwardOnward You and me both although I would have to change the locks as no way could I leave the cats! Why on earth did we pay tax for many years if this is how the NHS feels it can treat Carers?