Hi there, I haven’t posted in a long time but hoping I could get some advice… My dad who’s 75 is in hospital in the UK, had a fall and broke his hip last Weds. He broke the other hip in a fall last year. Last time he was up and putting weight on it day after the op, but this time round he’s only just really coming around and hasn’t been able to get up yet. My issue is that Dad is largely on the ball usually but the situation of being in a hospital with the noise, not sleeping, other patients antics etc is really detrimental to his mental health and he is very worried, confused and pretty incoherent. It’s very scary as this is not his usual state of mind. This happened last time, however he was only in a week and we were able to take him home. (rather than to a convalescent hospital) Pretty much as soon as we got him home there was a visible change and he was much happier and almost back to his usual self but the experience definitely had a negative effect on him. This time we worry that being in hospital is going to worsen his condition mentally, perhaps permanently, not sure if this is founded or not. He has been very similar to before, today, very confused. My mum is willing to pay for a private recovery but we have no idea how to go about sorting this out - or if it’s even possible to transfer straight from an NHS ward. We feel if he was in a private room with his family and home comforts he would be much happier. It’s very hard as due to COVID we have only been able to visit for an hour a day and so haven’t even been able to explain all this to a doctor - although not sure if they would be able to do much
Any advice much appreciated - anyone been in a similar situation? Thanks so much Naomi
I have a little experience in that my Dad and later on my partners Dad were in hospital. My eldest brother works for a health trust.
The advice seems to be that you need to get him out if he can cope at all…
My experience and girlfriend’s Dad is that they are none too good with the drugs
And being in seems to affect the mind . So if u can get him out and can afford to place him somewhere where they have the time to look after him and you are not sure he is getting that at present… then prob best to get him out I think.
Andy (aka Ojalahey)
Ps: my partner says that a key element when they were getting her Dad out of hospital was talking to his Hospital Social Worker whose remit is to link up the organisations involved in the move. She was very helpful and without her positive
help they might have had much more difficulty. Every hospital has one apparently !
Hi Andy, thanks so much for your reply. Dad has seemed a bit better last couple of days mentally. I actually rung PALS at the hospital as weren’t getting anywhere, and they have obviously put something in place as the physio has been in touch with both my mum and I to explain Dads progress/situation. He needs to be in a few more days to do more physio but they are going to release him home hopefully next week, with us arranging some private home care. You’re totally right about the social worker but the physio said any care package could take up to a month to get a place and Dad would have to wait in hospital for that whole time! Really appreciate your advice and your time in replying to me! All the best and thanks to your partner too !
Hello, my husband has had far too many hospital admissions over the last 3 years owing to Sepsis in a knee joint. He has been in East Surrey hospital snd Oxford Orthopeadic hospital, absolutely every time he has been an inpatient he has NEVER been given his drugs on time and this has made him agitated. Similarly the drugs used for pain relief are often opioid based and caused my husband severe hallucinations and confusion. So my first response would be to ensure (as best you can in the current climate) that he is getting his drugs on time - most hospitals have policies to provide Parkinson’s patients their drugs on time (not that they work). However a reminder and a call to PALS often helps. Ask that the pain killers are changed to non opioid base ones. We have also found that further into the Parkinson’s healing and mobilising takes longer. Wishing him and you the very best.