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Her little hearing is the only way she has of communicating

Posted By Northwitch

"Her little hearing is the only way she has of communicating"

About: Stonehouse Hospital University Hospital Hairmyres / Care of the Elderly (Wards 13-16) University Hospital Wishaw / Care of the Elderly (Wards 9-12)

(as a relative),

My 91 year old Mum has been admitted to 3 different hospitals since July. Wishaw General, Hairmyers and lastly Lockhart Unit at Stonehouse Hospital. 

She was living on her own in Sheltered housing before she took I’ll and is now needing 24 hour care. I feel that her care has been satisfactory for the most part but sometimes the basic care is lacking.

My gripe at the moment is, Mum is registered blind and also is very deaf without her hearing aid. It is unbelievable the amount of times I have had to remind staff that she is blind.

An incident took place over 2 weeks ago where another patient entered her room in Stonehouse and took my mums hearing aid and put it in a glass of water. The staff assured me that they would get it fixed. I reminded them that her little hearing is the only way she has of communicating with people. I have asked every day for 2 weeks and she still doesn’t have a hearing aid that works. I told them the spare aid, which was also supposed to be getting repaired while she was in Haimyers but that didn’t happen either, would maybe do her for now. The only problem with the spare aid is the tubing needs to be changed,a 2-minute job, but although promised this was never fixed.

I had spent every day with mum since March and now that she is in Stonehouse I am unable to visit or even see through a window. She will be very vulnerable at the moment and my fear is this will not be helping her recovery. She was classed as end of life in Hairmyers but bounced back so I don’t want her to go back the way. It’s imperative she gets at least her hearing aid sorted.

I am at my wits end

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Responses

Response from Neil Ferguson, Service Manager Care of the Elderly, University Hospital Hairmyres, NHS Lanarkshire 3 years ago
Neil Ferguson
Service Manager Care of the Elderly, University Hospital Hairmyres,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 26/10/2020 at 17:00
Published on Care Opinion on 27/10/2020 at 12:56

Hi Northwitch.

Thanks so much for taking the time to raise this with us. I'm responding in relation to Stonehouse hospital, but recognise that your concerns equally apply to Hairmyres and Wishaw too.

Communication is such a vital component when caring for patients and I'm sorry that your experience has not reassured you that we feel the same way.

I can tell you that on reading your post, our Senior Nurse looking after Stonehouse hospital has made immediate enquiries into your mother's situation, with a view to assisting with progress if there are gains that can be made. Unfortunately, hearing aid repairs may require intervention from specialty audiology services, which may be out with the scope of the ward staff to influence directly.

I would hope that our ward staff would be able to update you about what steps are being taken and what progress has been made. My apologies if this has not happened, or if the timescales being talked about are less than ideal.

I noted your comments about visiting and recognise that your visiting privileges have reduced, now that your mother is no longer considered to be 'end of life'. While I'm sorry that this is adding to your worries, I'm delighted to hear that your mother's health is improving.

From a Stonehouse perspective, we value communication and the role visiting has in enhancing patient experience. We are currently exploring options about how to improve both these aspects generally within our ward.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to us. I hope you experience some progress in getting your mother's hearing aid repaired and more importantly that her health continues to improve.

Neil

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Northwitch (a relative)

Hi Neil,

Thank you for your prompt reply. I want to point out that on the whole my mum has been treated with the best care and attention.

Not having her hearing aid may seem trivial but to her it’s a lifeline. I am upset because I was told on two separate occasions that the hearing aid was with audiology, that it was getting sorted. As this Incident happened while mum was in your care I was thankful that it was being resolved by the hospital.

I have since been told that Mum will probably be moving on to a care home and my fear is she will not fully understand what’s going on as she will be unable to communicate with social workers as she won’t be able to hear them properly.

I have also on a couple of occasions asked for a call back from the hospital when mums nurse hasn’t been available,and as yet this hasn’t happened. I fully understand that the staff are under much more pressure due to these difficult times but so are the patients families.

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