Caring for the elderly

A nursing chief has spoken following a series of complaints over the care given to elderly relatives.

Severe criticisms came from people left feeling helpless and angry as their relatives failed to get help to eat and drink, were left lying in faeces, and were discharged in the same or worse condition than when they were admitted.

Relatives said they could find no-one to answer their questions, and although care provided by some nurses was excellent, they were prompted to speak out to prevent other elderly patients facing similar ordeals.

Marian Carroll, director of nursing for Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital, promised all complaints would be thoroughly investigated and relatives informed.

She was also eager to assure the thousands of people who need hospital care each year that such cases were not the norm: “The NHS overall delivers excellent care, but we do fail some patients,” she said.

“Their relatives speak to other people about their experience, which leads to an impression that care is not good.” Every service at the Royal Oldham Hospital has a dedicated matron available to talk to families with concerns.

The five cover accident and emergency, the medical assessment unit, surgery, medical, and rehabilitation and stroke services, the latter also responsible for patients with dementia.

One in four hospital beds is occupied by a patient with some form of dementia. Many are admitted for an unrelated problem - a broken limb, say, and many have several medical issues.

A common theme among complaints is lack of communication: work continues to improve the information given to patients and their relatives.

Mrs Carroll explained: “Communication is key. We keep saying to staff they should put themselves in the shoes of relatives.

“The longer someone stays in hospital, the outcome can be a lot worse, particularly for elderly people.

“It is very hard for someone used to caring for a husband, wife or parent, to hand over that care to someone else who does it differently.”

She added: “Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to providing a service which delivers excellent care.

“Sometimes things can go wrong and on these occasions we welcome suggestions on how we can improve services.

“Many problems can be resolved by talking things over.”

A number of the complaints received involve allegations that little notice was taken of information given about how the patient was before falling ill - one of Mrs Carroll’s points is that staff should get an idea of a patent’s normal home routine, mobility, eaing habits and so on.