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"Unsafe discharge"

About: University Hospital Monklands / Medicine for the Older Adult (wards 20 - 22)

(as a relative),

My grandpa was taken in to hospital with exacerbation of his COPD, he was initially admitted into ward 14 then moved to ward 22. He was weaned off oxygen, but ended up having to go back on it overnight due to low saturations, the decision was made that he would be discharged with LTOT and a plan was made for discharge.

On the morning of his discharge, I called the ward and was told the nurse was awaiting confirmation that o2 would be delivered to the house, then we received a call from my grandpa saying he was in the discharge lounge and no longer on o2. I called the ward and was told that he no longer required o2, the nurse said this was a medical decision and put me on to a doctor who explained that he had been monitored for 2 hours off oxygen and his new baseline saturations were 80% and no longer 88-92%. I advised them I was concerned about this due to his o2 saturations dropping as low as 60% prior to admission. They said that hospital at home would visit in 24-48hrs to check sats and advised me not to check his oxygen at home. 

My grandpa attended a respiratory appointment at the hospital and was taken to A&E from there due to oxygen saturations and has now been admitted back into ward 14, supposedly awaiting a bed in ward 17.

In my view, this was an extremely unsafe discharge and I feel that saturations should have been monitored for much longer on the day of discharge before he was deemed safe to go home without it. I also feel he should not have been moved to the discharge lounge when he had only just been taken off oxygen. I believe his baseline saturation expectation was lowered by doctors in order to meet his PDD without taking into account his safety and wellbeing. 

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