Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicky.
Don't think you would need training as (from experience and what I heard in hospital anyway) theres not actually anything 'wrong' with those who block beds most of the time. Just ****ing loneliness. But a hospital cannot afford to keep these people on wards when others are not having a bed at all when they need one, just because someones family refuses tyo see them more than once a week. I mean yeah its sad, but its ****ing selfish as **** to stay in hospital when you don't need to be there, just for the social life.
A friend of mine is a nurse and says this is getting much worse, and the staff apparently cannot force them to go, as they will then start saying they have pains..and the staff can't just say 'well no you don't and we know you are lying/exaggerating' on the off chance they aren't. Same people all the time too apparently. Must be so frustrating for staff. Especially when hospitals are so busy. Hell last time I was in, the corridors were filled with very ill people as there just wasn't the rooms./ But when I was admitted, I was met with yet another old person who felt the need to beam at me and tell me that her son was on holiday so she didn't want to be left alone so had ****ing came to hospital. Really...wtf. The staff know they are taking the psis, but can't do anything about it.
|
For a lot of the elderly who end up in hospital, they have no family, an uninterested family or a family that live hundreds of miles away. They are often admitted with acute medical conditions which are often non-specific. They are often frail and have other complex needs and even when they are considered well enough to go home, if they have no home carer there has to be a thorough geriatric assessment. If that assessment shows them to be confused, unsteady on their feet or have dementia, they will be kept in hospital whilst alternative arrangements are found. Its a legal requirement. We can't just kick them out on the street like they do in America. Fortunately, we have an obligation of care and there are very strict guidelines about what we can and can't do.
Personally, I don't think NHS hospitals are geared towards geriatrics. Its a clinically driven environment where needs for the elderly can't always be met. We need to have more rehabilitation centers and respite care homes that are NHS run. Private nursing homes cost upwards of a Łthousand a week and subsidized nursing homes have long waiting lists.