Cellulitus in a care home

beccam

http://www.wwl.nhs.uk/library/pidocs/001%20pressure%20_ulcer_prevention_advice.pdf

hope this link works, it gives some info about pressure area care so may help when speaking with nursing home manager in order to help you know what to ask.

lana22

On the face of it, if your grandmother can get up and walk with assistance, she shouldn't be getting pressure sores.
Often they are harder to prevent in very frail, elderly people with comorbidities who are bedbound, but in someone who is mobile they shouldn't happen.
They used to be much more common even 8 years ago when I started my training, but we see less and less now coming in to hospital from nursing homes.
Is it a residential or nursing home?
You need to make sure she has been assessed for her risk of pressure sores, and that appropriate steps are being taken to manage the risk.
Now she is known to have pressure sores, the home need to check regularly and document her pressure areas so that steps can be taken early if there is redness of the skin/breakdown.

emmielou

lana22 wrote: »

On the face of it, if your grandmother can get up and walk with assistance, she shouldn't be getting pressure sores.
Often they are harder to prevent in very frail, elderly people with comorbidities who are bedbound, but in someone who is mobile they shouldn't happen.
They used to be much more common even 8 years ago when I started my training, but we see less and less now coming in to hospital from nursing homes.
Is it a residential or nursing home?
You need to make sure she has been assessed for her risk of pressure sores, and that appropriate steps are being taken to manage the risk.
Now she is known to have pressure sores, the home need to check regularly and document her pressure areas so that steps can be taken early if there is redness of the skin/breakdown.

thanks iana22, it is a residential home and with assistance she can be mobile. In fact about 5? months ago I had a bit of an issue with one sister who told Gran she didn't need them to get to the bathroom. I spoke to the other sister who agreed with me that no matter what, if she did not feel safe then she should not get up on her own and quite frankly she can't.

Gran is 91 and mentally, awesome. She can still tell you the name of every king or queen and I mentioned a flower that was growing in my garden and she was able to tell me exactly what it was from my terrible description!!:p

Sometimes I feel like some of the staff don't pay enough attention because she is still so good mentally, just a bit deaf.

Unfortunately for them i'm going to be a grannyzilla from now on!:rotfl:

emmielou

I would also like to say thank you to all that posted.

I was wondering if I was being a bit unreasonable thinking more should be done but now I feel I can walk in to a meeting with the manager and tell her how it should be!!

Thank you SO MUCH!! :T

Jenkin

Hi emmielou,

My advice would be to contact the district nurses that cover the residential home. If you're unsure who they are, ask your gran's GP for a referral. As noted by somebody earlier, pressure relieving equipment is very expensive and patients have to meet strict eligability criteria, but if you're gran has had cellulitis and is in her chair for most of the day, she should qualify. If this is provided by the dns then this will be funded by the NHS, not the home.

GM should be 'turned' frequently if she is very immobile, but I advise you to be diplomatic when you speak to the residential home staff; usually they work very hard in a very demanding job, for very little money - a thankless task!

Hope you get things sorted - she sounds like quite a lady!!