"Mistreatment and the lack of care for my grandparent"

Day 1

As a mild dementia patient, the staff on ward 4A offered my grandparent food and they declined like I understand most people dementia or Alzheimer’s would. My grandparent was not encouraged to eat or drink even though they hadn’t eaten for at least 24 hours, as they broke their neck or femur they day before and were fasted for potential surgery when arriving at Fiona Stanley.

When I enquired about the visiting hours the switchboard operator told me to the wrong hours to begin with. I was travelling from Albany to FSH.

Once arriving to the ward, I found my grandparent in a room by themselves with nothing around them and their belongings out of reach. With only a cup half filled with water that was just in their reach. I spoke to the nurses to find out what the plan would be when my grandparent would be having surgery, no one could tell me, so I asked to speak to the orthopaedic doctor on the ward. An orthopaedic intern came to talk to me about my inquires, who couldn’t tell me when my grandparent would be having their surgery and it would just be a wait and see when they could fit them in in? But the intern would talk with the Orthopaedic consultant and get back to me. After waiting 2 hours I heard nothing so I asked the nurses if they could find a doctor for me. After waiting 45 minutes another intern come to speak to me and said that my grandparent should be on the theatre list in the following morning of and to ring around 9 to find out what time they might be having surgery.

Day 2

At 9:30am I still haven’t heard anything regarding my grandparent’s surgery, I rang the Hospital to find out what was going on and the nurses put me through to my grandparent who told me that the orthopaedic doctor had come to see them and told them they would be going for surgery before 12pm that morning. My question is why would they tell the patient who has dementia when their surgery would be and not inform the next of kin/power of attorney when the surgery be? Late morning I called the hospital to ask if my grandparent had been taken to surgery and they still hadn’t gone, I asked if the social worker for the ward could ring me.

When the social worker called me back, I asked if there was any extra support that I would be able to get for my grandparent and the family regarding what was happening with their surgery and waiting times as well as what felt like the lack of understanding from nursing staff for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s. The response I got was that there are higher priorities and emergency cases that need to be dealt with first, there is a triage system that we use and that’s the way they do the surgery list in. I completely under this process but being spoken down to as if I’m a child, as I felt I was, isn’t the correct way to speak to someone especially when they are worried about their loved one that doesn’t’ seem to be getting treated correctly. Never once offered Care Call from the social worker.

My response to this to the social worker was that “my grandparent’s local hospital rang and spoke to the orthopaedic team two days ago and rebooked-preadmitted my grandparent’s surgery for when they arrived to FSH. I also explained the Australia standards that NOF should be operated on within 24-48hours by Australian guidelines standards.” To the smart comment I received from the social worker was to ask me where I found these reports, on the internet? I said, “no, I have worked in the public health system and I know the statistics and the results in what happen if NOF fractures are not attended to in the appropriate time.” After this the social worker told me they would speak to the orthopaedic team and see what they could do. Within the next hour my grandparent was taken for their surgery.

Day 3

I visited my grandparent to find out that when the physiotherapist tried to get them up and moving, my grandparent started to get dizzy, so they stopped. I asked if they had been eating and drinking and was told that my grandparent had hardly eaten any food or had hardly any fluids, I spoke to the nurses again and asked if they could encourage my grandparent to eat and drink as if they didn’t like the food, they wouldn’t eat it and they don’t like drinking water. For the next few hours, I stayed with my grandparent and encouraged them to eat some lunch and drink a litre of fluids. When my grandparent asked to go to the toilet, I understand the nurses would tell them that they weren’t allowed to get up out of bed without the physiotherapist and they would have to use a bed pan or a nappy/pad.

Day 4

On this day I visited my grandparent, they were sitting up in with the bed table out of their reach with a medication cup on the table with medication that had been left there by the nurses. After about 30 minutes a nurse come in and asked why my grandparent hadn’t taken their medication? Why was the medication left on the table unattended in the first place for over 30 minutes especially when the medications were S4 and S8 drugs?

Yet again all day it seemed the nurses wouldn’t help my grandparent go to the toilet or use a commode, instead they were told every time they rang the bell that they would have to use the nappy/pad to go to the toilet because they didn’t want my grandparent to use the bed pan because of bed/pressure sores and to press the bell when you have finished, and we’ll changed your nappy/pad

There is more to this story, but I am happy to discuss as I can only write 1000 words.