"Care of my elderly parent"

My elderly parent was admitted for care and pain management. They have dementia and requires prompting and assistance with food, drinks, showering and toileting. We visited every afternoon for the next 3 weeks and were frequently astonished at the lack of nursing care. After 3 days, I was putting moisturiser on my parent's legs and found what I believe to be a 50 cent piece size ulcer on their calf. I asked the nurse what the plan was for this, they said - being a Saturday, there's not much we can do because the Doctor would not be able to see it till Monday. Somewhat surprised I asked what the nursing plan was for my parent's wound management. The nurse then said they'd have a look at it.

When the nurse came in we noticed my parent needed a change of clothes, and there was faeces I believe, smeared on the sheet. The nurse said they were about to do a catheter flush and disconnected the leg bag without capping the end, and pulled it through my parent's fleecy pants past their staph infected open wound then reconnected it to the IDC. We also noticed that their catheter leg bag was rarely attached securely, so I believe walking caused trauma to their bladder. After that, we always checked and one day I found the catheter bag was actually bent back on itself and therefore not draining. I mentioned this to the nurse as to the reason my parent had no output of urine that day, the nurse said - oh yeah, could be and left the room, without checking the bag herself or securing it correctly - they did not return. We also found that my parent was regularly left unsupervised with scalding hot cups of tea and soup and pointed out that this was a huge burns risk. I felt it made no difference, every day we took their washing home their singlets were tea stained. My parent's fluid balance chart stated that they had drunk the tea, yet we found cold untouched cups nearly every time we visited.

On one visit, I checked their leg bag, no strap at all on the top and the bottom one so tight below the knee, their leg had swollen. At the same time, I noticed both leg wounds were open as they lay in bed. I rang and asked the nurse why my parent had no dressings, they replied that they thought it had been attended. I asked if wound management had been mentioned at handover, they said no and came straight back to do the dressing on one leg, but didn't see or know about the wound on the other leg, so I had to point that out to them. When I arrived that afternoon, a nurse was assisting my parent's roommate back to bed after visiting the toilet. When they were settled, they walked past the toilet door and closed it. After my parent had their dressings done I intended on taking them to the toilet, as they are not able to initiate this themselves. I had noticed a large amount of faeces smeared on the seat as I came in and the entire time I was there, noticed staff members walked past the door many times, some closed it - I opened it, they'd close it. No one did anything about getting it cleaned, so I couldn't take my parent to the toilet.

A few days ago the staff moved my parent to a single room closer to the nurses' station so they could keep an eye on them, we came in the following evening to help them shave, clean their teeth and prepare for bed, we could not find their bathroom gear. I asked where they could be and the nurse found them in my parent's previous bathroom - already occupied by new patients I might add, and no doubt ticked and signed off for having been 'COVID cleaned'. 

In order to make my parent more comfortable, the nurses had found them a Princess Chair to sit out in, however, it didn't have a footrest, so their legs hung down with pressure on their calves - quite a significant risk of causing a DVT. The nurses all said they couldn't find a leg rest but continued to place my parent in that chair anyway.

We were very grateful to the nurse one night recently who made an effort and found one. I spoke to the supervisor recently and asked why a hazard form had not been filled out with regard to faulty equipment being repeatedly used as the nurses had remarked that they could never find the footrest for these chairs. The supervisor noted all my concerns and said they'd bring it up. I made mention and they agreed, that the nurses are signing the care plan without even reading it or attending to the individual patient needs listed on it. I believe this is a legal document. I think my story above proves that the standard of care is falsely represented, that there is no accurate assessment of quality of care because the paperwork is not being used for the purpose it was intended. If I were not a nurse myself, I probably would not know how poor the standard of care is and how at-risk patients are. I can see exactly how hospital acquired infections occur in this hospital. In my opinion, it seems very few nurses actually know what 'Nursing' is anymore. I feel there is no continuity of staff, which makes it hard for them to get to know what a patient's individual needs are.

To summarise: I feel continuity of care would be helpful, accurate handover sheets, reporting of hazards, reporting when an area needs cleaning. Not leaving someone with dementia unsupervised with hot drinks. That a catheter check means it is secured correctly and that aseptic technique is used at all times. Kitchen staff are aware that a patient cannot be served hot food or fluids without supervision. That untouched food trays are removed and not left in front of a patient till the next meal arrives. That it is important to accurately record fluid in and out on a fluid balance chart. Writing B.E (bag emptied) is not useful in my opinion. Make sure that a patient has actually drunk the fluid before recording it on the chart. In a nutshell. I believe basic nursing care, infection control and safety needs to improve.