Dear LPG readers,   

I recently went to visit a friend of mine who had to spend a little time in hospital.  She is one of the many people who does not have any family around her, which meant that she had no one to be there when she left.   

While anything that leaves you hospitalised for a while has to be serious, she has an ongoing illness which leaves her having to visit more often these days.  I suppose that I am lucky because I have only needed one overnight hospital stay all my life and that happened ages ago.  I think that most of us will agree that visiting is not quite the same.  She, on the other hand, has an illness which has resulted in quite a few of those visits where you go for an appointment and end up having to stay for longer than you first thought. 

On this occasion, I went to visit her on her first evening back at home after a few days away, and found her more than a little anxious, to say the least.  When I asked why, she told me that she had not been discharged with any pain medication. You can appreciate that she might have been ready to leave hospital from their point of view, but that point of view is leaving people who would not be released, even a few years ago, for at least a couple of days longer, quite alone.  We know that leaving hospital has become more rushed than ever because of the shortage of beds and staff that we all hear about on the news so often.   

Even when you are clinically better, some illnesses can leave you disoriented, although she was very clear that the doctor told her that they had provided her with enough painkillers to get her through the night until she could talk to her GP.  

I think that at a time like that, two heads are better than one and so I tried to call the hospital but after half an hour of trying to get through to the operator, the recording was wearing thin.   We then phoned 111, who could not prescribe anything but repeat prescription items in a crisis, and they did manage to get through to the hospital, where their notes told a very different story about what had been prescribed.  In other circumstances I would have stayed with her but I needed to get back to my not-so-well mother, who I live with.  

I know that there is always the option of phoning the hospital or 111 again, but if you are that ill and living alone, it is something that might not occur to you in the middle of such distress.  

This is not the first time I have heard such a story; I remember hearing the story of a lady who left a different hospital armed with some dressings and a pair of surgical scissors. My friend, who is also her daughter’s live-in carer, recalled that she was wondering if she was supposed to use them to dress the knee replacement wound herself.  She called the hospital back and it turned out that the staff had mentioned to her mother that there would be a district nurse visiting, but when you are not feeling 100%, details like that don’t always get remembered.    

And that form that patients are discharged with does not always make perfect sense to the recovering patient or the ordinary people around them on their return home.  

We all know that as we get older those visits become a little more frequent, and we are also reminded about just how stretched the staff are in the wards these days, but it occurs to me that such things happen to patients when they return home from a hospital stay, more often than you might think.   

My point is that it is hard enough keeping track of all the details and care you need to adopt  when you get home at any time, but when you are leaving hospital and not in the best of health, it must be even harder. 

If you are not sure what was said, please don’t just stress about it.  You should be able to call the hospital in question or 111 and get some more clarity about whatever is worrying you, no matter the time of day or night. 

AM, Forest Hill 
 

LPG found this bit of information which might be of help…

 

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