"My poor old mum's care at Kettering"

My Mum lives in a care home in Corby old village, she has been there for over 2 years and during that time she has had recurring chest infections.

About every 2 months she is given a course of antibiotics which seem to help her a little but never fully clear her chest. Recently she was very poorly with yet another chest infection and was admitted to Kettering General Hospital in Nov 2009. After a time in the assessment ward she was admitted to H C Pretty ward. Mum had been given fluids and had been cared for quite well but was very frail. The doctors informed us that X rays had shown that part of one of mums lungs had a blockage and was not working, they said they would like to take a look but it would be difficult given my mums physical and mental condition, as she also has dementia.

We received a call from the nursing home informing us that the hospital has informed them that our mum had fallen and broken her arm. After hearing this, my brother and I made an appointment to talk to her doctor in H C Pretty ward. The doctor told us that mum was not well enough to have the camera, but an injection to identify the cause of the blockage may be possible. We did agree that mum was not well but that was why she was in hospital. We wanted our mum to stay in hospital until she was well enough but the doctor did not offer this option. On the contrary, all she was prepared to say was mum was well enough to be discharged back to the care home. We were against this, as mum was obviously still poorly and we felt that proper hospital care would have given her a better chance of gaining enough strength for treatment for her chest complaint. The next day mum was transferred to the gynae ward to await discharge. Mum was there for three days without any further treatment, during the day she was just left sitting in a chair next to her bed.

At the meeting with her doctor we had asked her about mum’s broken arm and why we had not been informed. She told us both that mum had been walking around H C Pretty ward with a Zimmer frame and had fallen over and that she and another doctor had been present at the time. After the fall she was given an X ray which showed she had fractured her right arm. I asked the doctor if my mum was holding the Zimmer frame with both hands and she informed us that she was, this we said to the doctor was very strange as mum was very ill and could not use her right arm or hand when she had been admitted due to a previous injury. The doctor insisted that mum was walking around quite well when she fell. I think that this can’t be possible, as my mum could hardly stand up never mind walk about, mum has never had a Zimmer or any other walking device.

The doctor was very polite and courteous and seemed genuinely concerned for our mum, but we thought that the hospital trust were restricting the options and care she was allowed to offer. As for mums broken arm, we are not happy as to the circumstances leading to the alleged fall and may wish to pursue this matter further.