Hospice care

loulou41

Just would like some advice regarding hospice care. My friend husband was admitted to the hospice with terminal cancer. He was admitted on Tuesday and died on Wednesday. He was expected to die but not that quickly. He fell out of bed during the night, the staff fail to put cotside and lower his bed. My friends is very distressed as he had a mark on his face. He wanted to go there and she expected good care and not speeded his death. She said he was the only patient there. I told her she should make a formal complaint but not sure whether she will do it as she is grieving. Complaining will not bring him back but will it stop it happening to another family. The coroner has been involved, he died less than 24 hrs of admission.

PasturesNew

RIP. What an awful experience.

I have experienced a death in a Hospice and it was the most wonderful of experiences, with lovely clean rooms, views over a garden and the chef personally came round and took everybody's individual food orders. Small individual bottles of wine were even dispensed.... and when "the time" came, a member of staff also sat in and stroked his head as he was leaving us. The patient was there 11 days before departing.

I have no advice to offer, except, your situation is completely the opposite of how they are supposed to be

tacpot12

Perhaps an informal complaint is better, initially, to at least give the Hospice the opportunity to explain their actions. They may agree with you that a dire mistake was made and they may know what needs doing to stop the problem from happening again.

I can understand your friend being devastated, as she will have expected to have had time to say goodbye to her husband. Instead, she is faced with a sudden loss, and nothing but worry that he was was hurt when he should have been being cared for.

I would suggest you support your friend to make a good decision for her. This may not be the same decision that you would make in the same situation. I would be wise for her to take a little time to get over the initial shock. She may want to make a complaint then, or be more certain that she does not want to.

Jenniefour

What a dreadful and very sad situation for your friend. The difficulty is that when those closest are grieving they are vulnerable themselves and many are not in a position to complain, and/or cannot bear to go through it all again. Understandably. And which is why many complaints do not get made.

I suggest your friend waits to see what the coroner has to say, as they do make enquiries and will want to know what happened. There is no rush to do anything/make a decision right now. She can consider it later, I think there is a time period of two years in which she can make a formal complaint.

elsien

I think it's more often 12 months rather than two years. Either way, she may prefer to take time to grieve and wait for the outcome of any investigation before deciding on her next steps.
She could also consider letting CQC know, although the hospice should have done that themselves anywayZ

badmemory

Is it possible that with such a recent admission and a longer term expectation of life, that the hospice actually had no idea how serious his condition was. I don't think they would have wanted a self determination patient to feel caged in by sides to his bed unless they needed to. Is it possible that his prescribed sedation was not strong enough?

BorisThomson

Has a post mortem been carried out?

I'd try not to encourage the idea that the fall speeded up his death until you have more information from the coroner. Having spent years in the care industry I know how common it is that people deteriorate much more quickly once they enter hospital or a hospice, and for no particular reason.

As the coroner is aware they will write to CQC if they feel the hospice has offered substandard care. This may have been a momentary lapse in concentration but that doesn't excuse the upset it has caused your friend, and I'm sure steps will be taken to ensure it doesn't happen again.

loulou41

According to my friend the staff said they have done nothing wrong. It is not in their policy to lower the bed and they do not use bed sides. She will have to wait for the coroner's report. Thanks for all your responses.

Yorkshireman99

loulou41 wrote: »

According to my friend the staff said they have done nothing wrong. It is not in their policy to lower the bed and they do not use bed sides. She will have to wait for the coroner's report. Thanks for all your responses.

If a complaint is to be made it is far better done ASAP so that any memories are as fresh as possible.

eddyinfreehold

My condolences to your friend. To be at the bedside of a dying relative is always difficult. One wishes for a swift, dignified and painless demise without distress or panic, and at the same time a gentle and not disturbing conclusion for those still living and in attendance. That sounds trite, but dignity in death for the dying, and the ability to move on for the living is the goal. It is a very difficult ideal to achieve. I have been there.

On a practical level, the Coroner will presumably have opened an inquest and there will be a date for the case to be heard. Your friend will be able to attend and give her story of the events to the Court. It could be a daunting process but the Coroner and the Clerks are usually very understanding. They are sticklers for formal procedure but have a natural understanding if there is a grievance to be heard.

SevenOfNine

I'm afraid there are no guaranteed timescales for death, sooner or later is ordinarily a best guess or expectation, it's not an exact science.

May I ask if he seemed to have 'perked up' at all (as far as your friend can ascertain) in the hours beforehand when she last saw him? I ask this because terminally ill patients can be known to be much more 'with it' in the hours before death with adrenalin coursing through the body (if they are not pumped too full of morphine etc), with family thinking they seem brighter & utterly shocked when the end hits suddenly. So I'm wondering if this might have happened & he attempted to get out of bed.

Alternatively, they can become extremely agitated, flailing about (sorry, I hate to say that & please don't repeat it to your friend - she doesn't need that picture in her head). Perhaps this is how he fell from the bed.

The problem I have is that neither possibility should have led to this poor soul hitting the floor! Your poor friend, I can imagine how this will certainly have added to her grief, no-one wants to think their loved one had a miserable last few moments of life.

My condolences.