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Unacceptable delays in my mother's Incontinance Assessment

Posted By RDown

"Unacceptable delays in my mother's Incontinance Assessment"

About: Community Nursing Services / Mansfield Community Nursing

(as a service user),

Mum had an Incontinence Assessment the day before she went into a Care Home, but because she lived in a different district to the Care Home,that assessment has been discarded and ignored, The prescription for overnight incontinence products which were confirmed in September 2018 have not been supplied to her Care Home, and a repeat assessment will not be completed until March 2019. This means that I am having to travel from Somerset to Mansfield each  month  to buy and deliver the required Incontinence products to the Care Home at a cost of £650+. Mum is 88 years old, she suffers from Dementia and has an inoperable bowel condition. I consider the bureacratic delays in supplying the prescription recommended by a District Nurse in Sept 2018 to be incredibly cruel and totally unacceptable. Why does the NHS put it's own petty 'rules' ahead of patient needs? Whatever happened to patient-centred care?

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Responses

Response from Liz Barker, Integrated Community Team Leader (Sherwood), Health Partnerships, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 5 years ago
Liz Barker
Integrated Community Team Leader (Sherwood), Health Partnerships,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 17/01/2019 at 11:48
Published on Care Opinion at 15:07

Hello, I am so sorry that you have experienced this level of frustration. Unfortunately different localities/areas use different products so provision of pads does need looking at dependent upon area and individual need. However I am sure we could look at this and see if there is a way of communicating across to ease the process. I would be grateful if you could contact our Patient Advice and Liason Service to dicuss this issue and we will then be able to investigate a little deeper and find ways of supporting you and your Mum. Their contact number is 0115993452. I hope we can support you further with this matter.

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Update posted by RDown (a service user)

I have already written to the relevant Patient Experience Team, giving them specific details and a comprehensive breakdown of the costs incurred. I've also been in contact with a District Nurse who has arranged for mum's assessment to be completed over the next few days - but this is 16 weeks on from the assessment which was done the day before mum went into the care home, and only happened after I'd made 3 requests for someone to call me to discuss the matter.

There must be hundreds of people who end up in Care Homes that are in a different area to their own home. It's essential to ensure the right products are always supplied from Day 1 - getting a relative settled into a new place with a new routine is difficult enough without having to worry about whether they have the appropriate incontinence products to ensure a good night's sleep.

Please note that mum did not move from outside Nottinghamshire, in fact the distance from her house to the Care Home is just 9 miles. Should there really be such a lack of trust and poor communications between adjacent districts?

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