Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Breaking Dad out of hospital, who's with me :-)
  • rossendalelemming
    Free Member

    Last Wednesday I took my Dad to hospital for his pre op (Op booked for 11th June). He’s got a tumor on his postrate among other things. In the two weeks from having a meeting with the hospital to get the results of a camera down the old fella, my Dads health deteriated rapidly. He basically got a Water infection and needed to pee every 5 minutes, but because of the tumor he can’t pee. A vicious circle. He lost 7kg in weight and wasn’t sleeping. As part of the Pre Op they were going to send him for a CT scan. Once they realised he was in a state they found him a bed and gave him some antibiotics and sorted him out. Now they won’t release him until he’s had his CT scan in readiness for the operation on the 11th June. Every morning I phone the hospital up and i’m told that “he’s booked in for the scan today” and if everything is ok he can come home.
    (In Big Brother Voice) Day 8: Dad still hasn’t had his scan!

    Now, if you’ve got this far, you’ll be wondering why I’d want to break my Dad out and take him home? Simple, my Mum’s got terminal cancer and it’s causing her more distress that my Dad is not at home with her and it’s causing my Dad distress because he’s not at home with her.

    I’ve explained the situation to every Nurse/Doctor/cleaner in the place, but they won’t release him until the scan is done. I can’t see their problem, he was booked in for a CT Scan last Wednesday therefore his notes must say what needs scanning. So wheel him down there and get them to scan him.

    So tonights plan is to take him home to visit mum and get him back before visiting times over, what can possibly go wrong…..

    woody2000
    Full Member

    but they won’t release him

    If he wants to leave, he can leave mate. No-one can keep him there if he doesn’t want to be there!

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    He can discharge himself. What the implications are for any future scan or op I don;t know.

    I don’t want to be alarmist but: I’d be more concerned about asking what the scan is being used for and why he is being kept in now rather than being scanned as a day patient – it does sound like they’re maybe expecting the scan to show more than you think? The NHS tends not to keep people ‘in’ unless they think there’s a genuine need to, imo.

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    philconsequence
    Free Member

    He can discharge himself. What the implications are for any future scan or op I don;t know.

    I don’t want to be alarmist but: I’d be more concerned about asking what the scan is being used for and why he is being kept in now rather than being scanned as a day patient – it does sound like they’re maybe expecting the scan to show more than you think? The NHS tends not to keep people ‘in’ unless they think there’s a genuine need to, imo.

    unless he’s sectionable under the mental health act, he can discharge himself, and everything wwwaswas said +1

    mrdestructo
    Full Member

    Before doing anything mental, get a registered letter to them stating the issues from your mother asking for answers. They can’t hide that paper trail and it may be useful in future.

    DrP
    Full Member

    Phil – wouldn’t be mental health act, but mental capacity act.
    It sounds like he has capacity (the ability to make his own decisions) so really he can say “toodles” and walk.

    They probably thought it would be a quick “one dayer” for him, hence kept him in, but it seems that ‘each new day’ they hope this, but no space for a scan.
    Out pt scans take a lot longer, so unlikely before the operation TBH.

    It’s up to him really – if he really wants to leave, no-one will physically stop him.

    DrP

    rossendalelemming
    Free Member

    The scan is to see where else the cancer is (he had skin cancer for about 2 years on one of his ears), which his Dr kept just giving him cream for. He went for a hearing test and the person performing that told him is was skin cancer and needed to be treated. That looks to be back aswell. So yes the scan is needed before his Op, so why aren’t they doing it?

    I don’t want to discharge him, I want to do an inverse visiting time. He goes home for it, mum’s bed ridden, and goes back at the end. every time I go to visit him in the evening (6pm-8pm visiting time) they tell me “he won’t be scanned now”, so there’s no harm in taking him out of there.

    philconsequence
    Free Member

    Phil – wouldn’t be mental health act, but mental capacity act.
    It sounds like he has capacity (the ability to make his own decisions) so really he can say “toodles” and walk.

    apologies! so used to chatting to MH people i forget to explain things a little clearer at time…should’ve mentioned the capacity act as well as it should be used to inform decisions on using the mental health act… so yeah, assess capacity, if no capacity, section him.

    fingers crossed this isnt the case for the OP’s dad though!!!

    have a long chat with the staff, if you’re not happy then search out a patient advocate, PALS etc.

    z1ppy
    Full Member

    **** shitty situation, you have my sympathies, though IME no one can say anything that is of any use (though they have to say it)
    .
    It does seem some hospitals can’t find there own arse with both hands, and levels of care differ alarmingly.
    I will quite happily blame Walsgrave for being rubbish beyond comparison with my mothers treatment (with a similar scan situation), that’s in comparison with Sandwell who have (viewing from the side line) done their best for my father.

    Both of my parents have checked themselves out, for differing reasons, they cannot stop you.

    What I would say is, though it’s not at the top of your list make sure you complain, maybe things will be better for some-one else’s parents (child/brother/etc).

    zippykona
    Full Member

    Don’t assume they know what they are doing.
    They are all far too busy chatting around that little work station thing to really give a f..k.
    Ps it might be different elsewhere but at East Surrey that is certainly the case.

    rossendalelemming
    Free Member

    I did complain and they moved him from a “holding ward” to the Urology ward. Which ment he lost his Patientline TV/Phone and we have to use a communal phone to reach him. I joked that my complaint resulted in the loss of TV priveledges 🙂 and If I complain again, he may lose his bedding 😉

    rossendalelemming
    Free Member

    Bloody typical, they’ve just scanned him – The power of Single Track Forum.

    I can collect at 6pm if all’s well.

    MrsToast
    Free Member

    Sorry to hear about your parents’ situations, rossendalelemming. 🙁 I think you need to be a bit pushier with the hospital – sometimes communication can break down and staff assume that someone else is taking care of something, or simply forgets that maybe the family would like to know what’s going on.

    We had similar with my dad, he went in for a brain biopsy where he was supposed to be awake, he came out recovering from a general anaesthetic and had so many tubes coming out of his head he looked like one of the Borg. The nurses refused to tell us what had been done until a doctor had spoken to us, but there was no doctor available during visiting hours for five days, and they wouldn’t speak on the phone. They also forgot to give him his anti-seizure medication, which caused him to have a couple of grand-mal fits which robbed him of some of his mobility. 🙁

    philconsequence
    Free Member

    fingers crossed for you and your dad!

    MrsToast
    Free Member

    Never mind, carry on! Good luck to your dad.

    willjones
    Free Member

    Paying for a scan privately may speed things up and make life a bit easier. You’d probably end up under the same consultant… EDIT: Woah… he was scanned! Good luck OP’s Dad.

    DezB
    Free Member

    Good luck mate.
    Something similar happened to my Dad. We couldn’t get him out, because he was very ill, but they just moved him around from one ward to another. For weeks.

    rossendalelemming
    Free Member

    The mission was going to be complicated by the Armed Police guarding someone who was shot in Manchester on Friday.

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