I am livid! My elderly father is back in Forth Valley Hospital for the 4th time this year. On every occasion, they've lost his teeth, or hearing aids or both. The score for this year is 1 bottom set of teeth missing, 1 top set of teeth missing (recovered after 2 weeks) and 4, possibly 6 hearing aids in total gone AWOL. Every time he goes in, they disappear without trace and the staff are totally unconcerned about it. It's of no more consequence to them than the loss of a biscuit - probably less so.
They make no attempt to track them down until you kick up a considerable fuss and even then rarely succeed. There seems to be no concept in the minds of the nursing staff that an elderly man with dementia needs to be able to hear and to eat!!!! I actually had a nurse tell me this evening that my father wasn't eating well. She seemed rather surprised when I pointed out that this was because half his teeth were missing. Do I have to spell it out for them???
The irony is that the hearing aids are national health ones, so their carelessness is costing their own employer a fortune - no wonder they can't afford more staff! What do I have to do to get them into the mindset that this is personal property and vital to the patient's welfare? The stress on relatives (in this case me) is HUGE without having to compensate for their lack of interest.
"Persistent loss of hearing aids/teeth in hospital"
About: Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Elderly medicine Forth Valley Royal Hospital Elderly medicine FK5 4WR
Posted by Hopalong Leith (as ),
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See more responses from Louise Boyle
Update posted by Hopalong Leith (a service user) 2 years ago