Deficiencies in the system

There are times when you can't help being angry with the deficiency of the Health Service & the lack of co-ordination with Social Services.

As readers of the Fox's latest blog will know, we went to visit MK in hospital yesterday. In many ways he's doing remarkably well. Always cheerful. Mentally all there, keen for news of the outside world & of joint friends.

But he is afraid, & with good reason. Yesterday mucus had blocked his passageways with the result he stopped breathing. Fortunately he was discovered in time for the crash team to work their wonders. But the real problem, & the cause of his worry, is that his bed is mid-ward & he is not attached to any system that will advise the nurses at their desk that he has stopped breathing. He cannot press any alarms as he's lost the use of everything neck downwards due to the Motor Neurone Disease. With his oxygen mask on, he cannot even cry out for help. He has to rely on the good auspices of his fellow patients to raise the alarm or hope some medical staff just happens to be passing by & look his way. He fears that one of these days, by the time anyone notices, it will be too late to help him.

Meanwhile an elderly man in the next bed is worrying about what will happen when he goes home, which should be any day now. His wife is hardly able to walk & he is her carer. Although he's hoping to make a full recovery, it doesn't alter the fact that he knows initially they're going to need some help & for that help to be in place before he is released from hospital. Otherwise both he & his wife are going to be back in hospital! I can only suggest he gets onto Social Services immediately & not to put on a brave show about what they can & cannot do. He admits he has started the process. I just hope it's sorted before he leaves the ward.

I can't help remembering my last hospital visit. Before I went in, I told Social Services that I was going in & we would probably need more help when I came out. They said talk to Social Services in the hospital. I asked for Social Services for in hospital & I was told, through a nurse, that since I was already disabled & so had all the aids I would need & someone living full time at home with me ie the Fox, they would not be coming to see me. I was sent home with so little notice that the Fox didn't even have time to get the shopping in before I was home. He was very anxious leaving me alone, unsupervised, while he went to get some food in. And my state when I got home was such I was hard pushed to stand up on my own. Trying for a shower was a very nervous time for both of us! I just hope the system works better for this old man.