"Rehab admission"

My parent was recently an inpatient in Armadale rehab ward recovering after a surgical washout of a joint infection and cellulitis in her ankle.

Their baseline prior to this infection was very good. They were mostly independent living in a second story apartment. They used a 4 wheel walker for around the shops and frequented social outings twice weekly with silver chain.

Whilst the care my parent received was adequate, after 7 weeks in hospital it felt like the discharge was rushed. During my parent's admission the only rehab received was focused on getting up and down 3 small stairs (my parent has 17 high steps up to their apartment.) We frequently reminded physio and doctors that they not only had to get up 17 stairs but down also. No thought was given to how they would get down them, which has been extremely difficult. As soon as my parent was able to do multiple stairs at a time discharge was being pushed.

Physio was very limited to 2 or 3 times in the early days but then stopped.

We expressed many many times with doctors, nurses, physios, occupational therapists our concerns but no-one seemed interested, only in discharge.

The only thing provided was an occupational therapist assessment, and that is because we asked for it.

We have grave concerns that it is just a matter of time that my parent falls down the steps.

We saw multiple different social workers during their admission. All saying that they didn't know we had already seen a social worker, all saying that they would start the ball rolling with an ACAT Assessment - none have done so. We have however received a referral for a home care package.

It seems that of all the disciplines that saw my parent - none of them actually spoke to each other or listened to our concerns.

My parent was also discharged with no plan for home. We were told that a meeting of all caregivers together would happen before discharge but this did not occur. My parent’s GP is appalled that no care plan was put in place, no Physio or rehab in the home offered which we are told they now cannot access as they are no longer a patient. My parent’s mobility is very poor post discharge and is nowhere near what their GP feels it should be. My parent cannot walk without assistance at all, with a Zimmer frame they can walk only 10m. They cannot stand on both feet without assistance we are now concerned that my parent will never get back to her baseline.

To make matters worse, I found out recently that my parent  has a pressure sore on their tailbone (my parent didn't think to tell me) that is now close to tearing. My parent states that this was known and looked at in the hospital but it was never communicated at any time to family and again no treatment plan provided going forward. We only found out due to the occupational therapist assessing them.

I would appreciate a response to my concerns and a reassurance that they will be looked at and addressed for other patients going forward.