My nan had a stroke 4 weeks ago and they are telling us in 2 weeks she needs to leave the hospital. She has been moved between 3 hospitals in 4 weeks and is now at a community rehabilitation centre. The physio she is receiving seems very good but we are concerned she is being discharged way too soon given she has no movement in her left side and cannot transfer from a bed to a chair without the aid of 2 or more nurses and a hoist. There was a family meeting on Friday where they basically implied we have no choice and she has to leave. My grandad isn't capable of looking after her and although the family are around we all work full time and have already had significant amounts of time off. They have diagnosed her over the weekend with a chest infection, which no-one picked up or investigated previously despite having a cough for around 2 weeks now.
We would be happy if she had some mobility but at present, she has no mobility at all and is incontinence.
Please, can you advise what you think we should do for the best?
Hi thats doesn't sound right. Have you tried talking to local stroke coordinator, ring the help line and ask if you could be put in touch, they are amazing, also talk to your doctor or her doctor at home. Maybe they could come up with some ideas. If she is incontenent and unable to move properly I should think she would need daily carers. I do hope you get something sorted. Keep us posted. Wendy
I think it is time for social services to get involved in her care. The problem with hospitals is their main aim is to get people well enough to be moved on from hospital because the longer they are in there, the more likelihood there is of them catching something else that can make matters worse especially with the elderly. We had the same problem with my Mum-in-law. She was also taken to a rehab unit where she was assessed but then ended back in hospital with pneumonia which she had already caught and recovered from twice from being in hospital.
If there is no full time help at home and,obviously she cannot look after herself, she needs to be somewhere where she can be nursed back to health under the 'fast track' system. This cuts out the long drawn out process which drags on by Social Services. As my Mum-in-Laws Consultant quite flatly put it "It is all down to cost I'm afraid. For every patient taking up an NHS bed, it costs us £650 per night. Full time care paid for by the government will cost much less and will be more targeted care than she will get in hospital".