So my husband is now in his 7th week on a stroke ward. Since he came on the ward it has been a real struggle to get a nurse or HCA to help, he has been left soiled with his hands covered in faeces and on one occasion was naked in a wet bed. Some staff are great but many are not. When my husband went into atrial fibrillation one time he nurse said it was probably because he had been getting in and out if a chair a couple of hours before, luckily an HCA refused to sign off his obs so they had to do an ECG which of course showed that he was in atrial fibrillation, which caused his stroke, so more beta blockers were given.
I begged the consultant to give my husband a side room where I proposed to care for him myself. This was agreed upon so now I am staying in his room on a mattress on the floor. I wash and change him, I change the bed linen and make sure he gets painkillers when in pain and stays hydrated. Am in my sixties with arthritic knees and a bad back but I couldn’t bear to see my husband not being cared for. And an HCA said she did the same for her mother. Luckily I have a wonderful family who have taken time off work to look after him during he day whilst I go home to rest.
Hopefully he will be going home soon, we are just waiting for carers to be available.
Wondering if anyone else has experienced this?
I think you should definitely put in a written complaint.
We have put a complaint in to PALS a body independent from the hospital that registers complaints and reports them to management.
Several other visiting families have done the same.
The ward is just so short staffed and staff are tired and demoralised, that’s when care becomes compromised sadly.
Get in touch with the Stroke Association they should be able to point you in the right direction to get help and support.
0303 3033 100
This number is a free support help line
@Babs03 that sounds awful & is below the care standard anyone should expect. Staffing shortfalls are common sadly but that doesn’t make it an acceptable situation.
I see you have already complained to PALs. You could also try your local MP.
Good to see that you have people helping you so you can get some rest too as that is really important. I hope the situation improves soon.
Sending my best wishes to you both
Ann
Thanks all for your replies. I just feel so sad that many stroke patients are completely without agency and extremely vulnerable in the first few days/weeks and so a lack of care will go unnoticed by the patient. Thankfully we were there and did not let it go. But for patients without an advocate it must be horrendous.
Good! My husband got very little physio in a specialist stroke rehab unit (NHS) after his stroke. There were supposed to be 5 physios and 3 were off long term. No cover staff were taken on. My husband often sat in his wheelchair for 9 hours. We were so disappointed as we were well aware that physio should start asap after a stroke.
To me that was 3 months wasted.
He decided he would come home and the Early Supported Discharge Team came out and he finally got much better treatment, which even happened at weekends.
I complained about the stroke unit and instead of 6 weeks with ESD we got 12 weeks.
My husband has had very little physio as well, only a half hour every few days, the physios will winch patients into a chair but then just leave them there.
Thankfully my husband isn’t in a really bad way physically but struggles to walk due to lying in a bed for weeks semi conscious due to an SAH as well as a stroke.
I hope when he gets a care package and goes home the physio will improve.