All 3 chickens stopped laying today

[chicken bark]

I hope you get good news tomorrow. I don't know how you manage - it seems you have to keep fighting on all fronts. You are doing a wonderful job.

[Plum]

A comment about contacting your MP may change their attitude as well, it really is shocking in a so called caring environment. Keep going.

[Shirl]

Shirl,

 

The treatment your brother is getting is terrible and as much abuse as Janty's son is currently getting at his school. It really makes me dispair. I would start to always have a camera and small video camera with you when you visit so that you can start to record and document some of this neglect, nothing impacts more in terms of a complaint than visual evidence. Thank goodness your brother has you fighting for him. You are amazing, don't forget it!

 

I have taken some photos in the past when Tom had unexplained marks/bruising on the face and when he had pressure marks on his feet due to poor positioning. Most of the time there is nothing to see as such but for when there is I will start to record it in pictures not just in writing. We keep a daily diary at the nursing home anyway so we have dates for all incidents.

[Shirl]

Shirley

You must write to CQC,and individualise all the problems that you have. They are not doing scheduled inspections at present as the standards are changing. We have 160 homes and none have been routinely inspected since March of this year. If you are really serious in getting him moved, go to a solicitor and get a letter sent - this will really put the wind up them. it will cost but in the long term may be worth it. They should also have a whistle blowing policy whereby the clinical director of the company can be contacted directly - our director routinely investigates and has no problem suspending and dismissing staff where he feels the care is lacking.

Thanks for the update and I hope the tests are postive

Clare

I have written a letter to the CQC and said that I believe some of what is happening is malpractice (administering drugs which are not prescibed) and have given examples of the issues we have and have offered as much information as they require. We already have a solicitor involved in making a will (through the courts) for Tom so it probably wouldn't be too difficult. What should the letter say?

 

If they sacked the poor quality staff there would be very few left. The good staff leave because of the way the place is run.

 

I don't think the papers is a route we would be comfortable going down although if nothing else works we may resort to it.

[Shirl]

A comment about contacting your MP may change their attitude as well, it really is shocking in a so called caring environment. Keep going.

To be honest the management do seem bothered and seem to take everything seriously but nothing ever changes. They make promises about the level of care Tom will get but it never happens. For example he would have a named carer each day and that carer would be responsible for ensuring he is fed, cleaned and positioned well in his wheelchair. Most of the time the staff don't even know that it is their responsibility and when even the unit manager leaves him in the chair with a trapped arm then you know whatever they do things won't change.

 

Tom is an hour from home so our MP isn't the one for Tom's local area so I assume I'd have to go to the one in the area Tom is in. If I go to my local one though they may be used to dealing with the PCT and might manage to get him moved quicker . I'll look into doing that.

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

Dear god that's awful. I hope you get some results Shirl.

[Valkyrie]

Ye gods! That's appalling treatment. The "so what" attitude makes even me want to slap that stupid twit in the face! Apologies for the violent thoughts!!! How you manage I do not know! But I hope this home is closed down for the sake of all the patients - "Ooops, word censored!"ody deserves that. You go girl, take them to the cleaners in any way you can - make it known so that they can't do that to people ever again. Arghhhhhhhhh I feel so frustrated for you.

[Shirl]

I have to confess to raising my voice to the senior nurse/unit manager yesterday when as usual she could give me no reason why Tom's second bag of food wasn't given on Monday. I did apologise afterwards because getting upset (and I was in tears at the time) isn't the answer.It is probably partially responsible for her attitude today towards our mum when she complained. Also I think there may have been relatives of a potential new resident visiting at the time so it doesn't look good people moaning about their relatives not being fed.

 

I really don't have the energy for a fight anymore I just want Tom out of there. Harsh on the other residents but they wouldn't close it anyway. There are 118 people living there and there just aren't the available beds elsewhere. The home we'd like Tom to go has no spaces at the moment and the person in the room opposite Tom has been waiting to go there for months. I don't care if Tom queue-jumps as long as we can get him out.

[Willow]

Thinking of you today Shirl. I hope the Addenbrookes results today are what you're hoping for.

[Seagazer]

Oh my goodness Shirl, my heart breaks for you and your family and more especially for Tom. What has happened to the nursing profession (and I know there are many, many good nurses before anyone shouts). It used to be known as the caring profession. I hope you manage to move Tom to the other place quickly and that he doesn't suffer in the meantime.

 

Our local hospital made the headlines when they didn't give one elderly gentleman any food or water and he had to use his mobile to call for help.He ended up phoning the hospital switchboard begging for water as the nurse was ignoring him. I think this nurse has now been struck off but unfortunately the man died.

 

I hope the news is good from Addenbrookes.

[Tiggy]

Ive just cought up with this thread, my goodness Shirl. Thats a very big home with 118 beds I wonder if they have enough staff with appropriate training to look after so many. I once worked in a nursing home - for about 2 mins I couldnt stand it, the level of care was appauling, but that was a long time ago & hopefully things in general have changed. I hope you get things sorted out for Tom, he is very lucky that you have the strength to fight for him

[Happy chickens!]

It appalls me that you have so much 'unnecessary' (ie this shouldn't be happening) stuff to worry about - it's bad enough for Tom without thinking about abuse from his care home. I hope you receive more positive news today, but whatever the outcome of that visit, that you can get him moved to somewhere that understands the meaning of caring. x

[Shirl]

Thanks for your kind messages. Well we had the feedback today which was incomplete because the Professor and some of his team is on holiday (not together I assume). The results are so far inconclusive. They found that Tom gave them no response during the MRI but when they used EEG and he was asked to think about moving his hand and then his foot there were responses which were similar to normal. This shows he can understand commands. They said as he is averse to noise he may not have been relaxed enough to respond in the MRI. He could also have been tired or any number of other reasons.

 

They said although on occasion he appeared to track an item with his eyes they could never replicate it. They wonder if the inconsistencies are due to fluctuating pressure in the brain caused by hydrocephalus. They are (if the Professor aggress) going to take Tom back and measure the pressure in the brain. If it is high they will then put in a shunt.

 

They couldn’t answer the question as to whether Tom can see but will hopefully test him if he goes back for further testing.

 

I found out today there are already 10 people on the waiting list at the place we'd like to move Tom to so if he manages to get a place I think we will have a long wait. We are going to look around Monday anyway.

[Willow]

Oh Shirl, sorry it wasn't better news. It's good they are going to do more tests.

 

You are so brave and good

[Ms Marple]

You are clearly working tirelessly Shirl. (((HUGS))) and thoughts with you

[abwsco]

Oh Shirl I am so sorry as I've only just read all of the updates. The treatment Tom is getting at the home is appalling. Also, sorry to read that the latest tests were inconclusive

 

Sending you all loads of {{{{{{HUGS}}}}}} and take care of yourself

xxxxxxxx

[Willow]

Hi Shirl,

I was just wondering today whether things were any better with your brother (no idea why it occurred to me today) so I looked up the message to see if there had been an update recently and I realised your original post on his accident was 2 years ago yesterday.

 

I hope things are a little improved and remember we are thinking of you and your family.

[Henchanted]

Thinking of you too

Edited May 26, 2011 by Guest

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I hope things are a little improved and remember we are thinking of you and your family.

 

Ditto from me .

[Lesley]

and from me

[Goosey Lucy]

Me too x

[Shirl]

Thanks for your thoughts and good wishes.

 

Well what a couple of years it has been, but here is where we are now. Tom has moved from his previous nursing home to a new one. He is now in a home run by nuns which offers the highest standards of care. He moved there on the 29th November 2010. Due to the move he caught a chest infection and ended up in ITU at the local hospital on the 14th December with pneumonia. He started to recover and on the 23rd December the hospital made the decision to remove his tracheostomy. It was literally just removed and the hole is left to close naturally. He has coped well without it. He was discharged on the 24th December which was the best present any of us could have hoped for. Unfortunately he was then admitted to a chest ward on the 28th December (just after the bank holiday ended ). He then spent a further week in hospital and ended up with various bed sores etc.

 

Since being back "home" he has gained weight and looks really well. His condition hasn't altered apart from losing the trache. He is still supposed to be going back to Addenbrooks to have an infusion test and then possibly having a shunt but this hasn't happened yet. I have only chased it once this year because there is always so much going on. We still make sure that between my sister, our mum and I Tom has a visitor every day.

 

As a result of the care (or lack of) Tom received at his previous care home I complained to the PCT and CQC. The response was for the PCT to spout back what the care home had said but they didn't even try to ascertain whether what they said could have been possible let alone true. I therefore took the case to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman. The PHSO told the PCT to investigate properly. The PCT are still in the process of doing that. As it stands we are awaiting information from the CQC regarding the homes last inspection. Then because the home has told lies we will be having a meeting with me, the PCT and home managers present. The idea being (from my point of view) they will admit that Tom was hurt through neglect by one or more members of their staff. Who knows what will happen but I will not let them wriggle out of this.

 

So is this a positive update? Well yes I think it is as a family we are much happier. Since his move i have started to come to terms with what has happend, I rarely shed tears over it anymore, Tom doesn't have a great quality of life but he has the best possible life he can have now and that is all we can ask.

 

Hope I haven't bored you too much but Tom is still a big part of our lives.

[Groovychook]

Thanks for the update Shirl.

I often think about you and your brother and wonder how he is doing.

 

Best of luck with your battle over his previous care.

xx

[Ms Marple]

I often think about you up here and I am glad that Patricia sought to ask you for an update. Good luck with your fight. In spite of what has happened to Tom you have clearly found an inner strength to support him so well. He is lucky to have such good family support. Couldn't think of a better word than lucky- the sentiment is meant kindly.

[chicken bark]

As others have said you are often in our thoughts. I admire your strength to keep fighting for what is right. Hopefully something will have to be done about the care home Tom was in previously.