"My parent's care - Medical A Ward"

My parent has dementia and had been hospitalised due to a small heart attack. 

They were placed into Medical A ward, the new medication and medical condition had stabilised. 

The doctor had wanted to keep them in longer but this meant that my parent's basic health conditions which I ensure are completed at home like hydration, mobility and cleanliness was not adhered too. 

Unfortunately the nurses are very busy and it seemed also very varied in how they approach patients and their full time carers who know more about the patient and their there needs than the nurses. 

I had mentioned on multiple times that my parent is fully incontinence with their bladder and about 50% with their bowel. I also brought in some of my parent's pull ups to which I was told they were not required as they had the same there. 

I had been ensured that my parent was being changed regularly and there was no issues, however, recently when I was at the hospital my parent had been very upset and in pain when they had urinated. 

So investigate into if their bladder was full or not was done via ultrasound, But the nurse had decided to change my parent's current nappy (not their normal pull ups ) and this is when I saw the state my parent was in. 

My parent was extremely sore and red raw all over, for them to get to that state it would have meant being left for hours in very wet and dirty nappies.

As their FT carer is was very upsetting to see my parent in this state knowing I couldn't help them. I just wanted to take my parent home then and there, my parent has never been in this state and made complete sense to why they were in pain. 

On top of this I had informed them of how I kept my parent's fluids ups as they were not a fan of plain water, I also brought additional fluid options up like cordial, juice boxes and custards along with different equipment such as drinking bottles with straws and specialty cups. My parent has dementia so they need to be prompted, this is something which I monitor very carefully at home. When I stayed to ensure my parent got more fluids in they were refusing, after careful questioning I was able to piece things together. 

My parent didn't want to eat or drink because it meant that they had to go to toilet which only meant pain to them. 

I was able to speak to a welfare officer that had called to follow up on other information from a previous discussion. I had explained my concerns and she was very proactive and called thru to the ward immediately and call me back. She had advised me that my parent was being moved to another ward which has a incontinence nurse which should be able to assess the situation. This hopefully sounds like a positive move. 

In regards to my parent's mobility, I brought up their walker so my parent could stay mobile to prevent any issues. But from my discussion from the physio and OT my parent had only been allowed out of their bed recently when they visited. 

No one had attempted to get my parent moving earlier which is disappointing with their age and lack of movement it can cause other issues. 

I'm hoping that the rehab - subacute care will be more experienced in the above areas. 

I also hope that the new ward would take more notice of Fulltime carers, we know who we are caring for. I'm with my parent 24/7, I definitely respect the work load of the nurses but I don't think all nurses respect carers.