"Care of my friend"

I am the primary carer to my close companion of 10 years who has alzheimers and was admitted to Ward 3 Psychiatry for the Elderly St Johns Hospital in December 2017. She had been very restless and anxious at home so it was agreed that she would be admitted to the hospital to be assessed for suitable medication to quell her restlessness and anxiety.  She went in of her own free will and I was under the impression that she would be in hospital for a few days then come home.

However I was soon told that she would be in until at least the end of December 2017 then following a meeting with a consultant I was informed that she would be in for 'weeks' and that the eventual outcome would be 24hr care in a nursing home. All I know is since she had been in hospital she has got even more restless. She wasnt eating properly and had lost a lot of weight. I was not at all happy with the standard of care she was getting. 

I had seen big blisters on her feet, because she was allowed to walk barefoot on the hard floor, which had been left untreated until I noticed how bad her feet were and told the nurses. One time I went to see her and saw her wearing mens slippers and there were no socks on her feet and she had an open wound under one of her feet. I was so shocked that I took a photo of the open wound. Another time a patient had urinated on the floor in the corridor, I told the nurses but they didnt clean it up straightaway. As my companion was pacing up and down the corridor and  I was worried that she might step in the urine and even slip on the wet floor so I cleaned it up myself when I spotted a pack of wipes laying on a desk. 

When she was admitted I told the nursing staff that lately she was inclined to remove her false upper plate and put it down and forget where she put it. I was assured that they were used to people taking out their false teeth and would keep an eye on her. So I felt good about that when i was told. However to my utter amazement her teeth were lost 3 days later December.  When I questioned the nurses they didnt seem all that bothered about it which I found appalling.

Her teeth were found 10 days later only because I asked them to look in another patients room. This particular patient happened to move my glasses whilst I was on my PC and didnt notice that they had done so. Another patient pointed it out to me. Following this event I asked the nurses to look in this patient's room. They returned and told me the false teeth werent in there. However 5 minutes later the nurse returned holding a denture and asked me if this was the missing denture, which they were.   I asked where they had been found and I was told in the Nurses Office. I was very pleased that her teeth had been found because over the past 10 days she hadnt been able to eat properly.

I got chatting to the relative of the patient who had moved my glasses and mentioned to that the denture was found after 10 days. To my amazement  the relative told me he had noticed that there was an upper denture in his relative's room which werent theirs and had told the nurses this. He told me the denture had been in the room over several days but the nurses had made no attempt to retrieve it until much later.  

Following the finding of the denture I told the nursing staff that I would get a duplicate denture made from the original and that I would keep the denture in my possesion and bring it in for for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then I was told that would not be practical as patients were given snacks in between meals which was in essence tea and cakes. The fact my friend was without her denture for 10 days didnt seem to matter then, but now it had been found it did. I find this totally mad really. 

I purchased a small lockable box with rounded edges and asked the nurses to put her denture away in that so they would be safe but I was told that was not possible as this little box could be used as a weapon. I was flabergasted.  One evening I went to visit  and noticed her denture wasnt in her mouth so I asked the nurses where it was. A nurse told me that she (the nurse) has put them away in her side cabinet by her bed. I commended this particular nurse for her diligence.

Horror of horrors the denture went missing again in January and were never found again. This really annoyed me because no care had been taken to make sure her denture was safe. Again the attitude of the nurses was ' these things happen, its the nature of the ward'.    I had a meeting with senior staff who tried to calm me down. When I asked why the nurses couldnt get my companion to remove her denture after meals so it could be put away in safe place and was told they couldnt risk her biting. Of course I didnt mean for them to stick their fingers in her mouth and remove it forcefully but instead to use gentle persuasion. I was told they havnt got time to do that. 

The morning when the denture went missing for the second time, the senior staff told me that they had observed my friend taking her teeth out at least 10 times. I would have thought the staff would have taken them from her after seeing her do this a few times and put them away safely.

I told the nurses that she would have to get a new plate made and was told a referal had  been made to the hospital dentist for a new plate. However I was just being fobbed off because the day of the appointment I asked if she had been seen by the dentist and apparently he was off sick  that day ... lol yes you got to laugh, and an appointment had been made for the following week. This appointment didn't happen either which wasnt a surprise to me.

She got much worse than when she went in initially. 

Clothes disappeared too, again the attitude is 'its the nature of the ward'. The staff working in Ward 3 are supposed to be looking after people who cant think for themselves so I think a working practice like that leaves a lot to be desired.

My friend was moved to a nursing home later in January and the previous day I asked the staff to ring me when she was going to leave so I could accompany her, I would have followed the transport car in my own car. I wanted to do this so that I could check nothing had been left behind. I wasn't notified which I thought was disgraceful and as it so happens items of clothing were left behind.