"Elderly relative and their journey"

My elderly mother in law started with D&V. Family members had the cleaning up to do including personal care etc.

Carer had phoned NHS24 during the morning and Doctor arrived that evening. Gave her a type of Imodium.

Three days later - Carer phoned doctor as my mother in law was complaining of very sore back and couldn’t move well. A Doctor and a Nurse arrived and took bloods and did what we believe to be a Dementia test.

Just as the Doctor was leaving, my mother in law told the Doctor that she was constipated and he prescribed Lactulose twice daily , which she took on two days and she became extremely incontinent. Family members again had to provide personal care, cleaning up - a significant effort for us, given our own age. It’s clear that this prescription was not necessary, shouldn’t have been prescribed and resulted in significant discomfort and distress to everyone involved.

During a family visit that afternoon my mother in law rose to go to the toilet and I noticed her trousers were very wet at the back. Few mins later, she called on me to help her. She was in dreadful state of helplessness and needed a great deal of personal care having suffered additional episodes of incontinence.

GP phoned around in the afternoon with blood test result. It was explained that my mother in law had High Potassium and low sodium levels. Consideration given to admitting her that evening. They decided to call the on-call consultant at Perth Royal Infirmary when decision was made that more bloods would be taken by nurse the following morning, just in case the first bloods weren’t correct.

GP phoned back the next day to inform us an ambulance would convey my mother in law for admission to Perth Royal Infirmary (PRI) that evening. GP provided a letter to be given to the PRI medical team. She was in PRI 11 days.

After those 11 days We received a phonecall from PRI saying my mother in law was getting home. Once home she complained almost daily that she was exhausted and not interested in eating much. No follow-up from hospital physio or anyone was provided.

A few days later in the early hours of the morning, the Community Alarm team called us to explain that my mother in law had had a fall in her bedroom trying to get onto the commode. They said they wouldn’t manage to get to her for over an hour and asked family to attend. Family got there 15 minutes later, and community alarm team arrived around an hour later and got her back in bed.

Family visited my mother in law early afternoon the next day and found her on her commode in bedroom having never been out of bed that morning. Had no breakfast but carer had managed to give her bit of lunch.

We struggled really badly trying to get her off the commode and into her bed.

We decided to call NHS 24 which took over an hour to get through. After many questions etc. it was decided to send an ambulance. Paramedics arrived in the late afternoon, did some tests and decided she would need to be admitted to Ninewells hospital in case something was broken as she was complaining of back and leg pain. We were called later in the evening by Ninewells to say my mother in law was admitted, and would be in over night but that nothing appeared to be broken.

The following morning  a nurse in Ninewells called us informing us that my mother in law had been admitted overnight by ambulance to Ninewells. The nurse believed we were totally unaware of this. There had clearly not been any communication or handover done. We explained to her what had actually happened. Nurse said my mother in law likely to be transferred to AMU.

On that evening in Ninewellls, at the point of visiting, we were informed that my mother in law had tested + for Covid19 and that it was inadvisable to enter the room.

We were informed that my mother in law would be being transferred back to PRI that afternoon/evening .

We were informed not to visit because she was in isolation.

We were informed she was negative later in the week. Family was asked to attend a meeting with occupational therapist(OT) in PRI .. which we did and we were asked to find a care home for respite care for 2-4 weeks as there would be no care available for her overnight which is what would be needed to get her home.

OT at PRI said they would continue to work with her in PRI till we found a care home and they would send physio and OT to care home to give her exercise, as she needed help getting out of bed etc during the night. Family finally found a care home with free room and was asked by a member of PRI to let them know as soon as we had reserved a room. A week later I informed the staff that my mother in law would move to care home at the beginning of March. The member of staff scribbled down the details and threw it on the table outside of the bay dismissively and walked away. Then realised what they had done, turned round and said a very quiet sorry and walked away. I was not happy with that and I decided to inform another staff member who was attending my mother in law and gave them the information.

The day before discharge, the discharge team member phoned to ask which care home my mother in law was going to, so they could engage an ambulance. She was then discharged to Care Home for some respite care as the right level/package of care wasn't available.

As of now, my mother in law has been in the care home one week and neither Physio or OT have been to see her.