Hospital distances

Contact the hospital and ask if they have volunteer visitors. Does she and friends have access to phone/screen so they could talk over the net?
I don't think with the state of the NHS and availability of beds that this kind of situation can be helped. My nearest hospital is about the same distance with no nearer options.

She wouldn't have been moved for no reason, either staffing levels or specialist help could be the reason. The patients' care is the priority, not the visitors convenience. Good idea to ask about volunteer visitors.

this often happens.
i don't think any consideration is given to visiting.
someone near me whose mother was admitted to an elderly care mental health unit spent £35 each way to visit her, took nearly an hour by mini-cab.
cheaper by buses, but 3 or 4 changes, and nearly 3 hours.
one day she got there and was told to go away, as mother was having some procedure. as soon as she got home was phoned by unit, telling her to come and take laundry to do for mother.
it's v wearing.

My dd is a medic and works across various hospitals in her Trust. There are subtle differences within hospitals as to their purpose, which are not obvious to our untrained eyes, and patients are sent to whichever is best for their needs - or possibly to whichever hospital has a bed.

My dd tells me that in her area in November they were already seeing January levels of illness and admissions. I think beds could be almost as rare as hens teeth this winter.

Not very convenient, I recognize that. However ……........ she is in hospital receiving appropriate care. That is the priority!!!!

There is physical care and mental care. What price fixing a physical problem if the patient has deteriorating mental health because she is in a hospital where no one can visit her.

Volunteer visiters have their use but they are in addition to friends and relations visiting, not instead of.

Maybe a hospital chaplain of any religion will visit her whatever beliefs she has. I don't know but I have the impression they all have liberal attitudes to their work

yes, but what patients need is visits from friends and families, not unknown others.

Lucky she's got a bed frankly.

Presumably if it’s just a fall the friend won’t be in hospital all that long. There is huge press on hospitals so they won’t keep her longer than needed.

My DH was discharged to a care home 30 miles away. They did not consult me and only told when he had arrived. This was supposed to be temporary - 5.5 months later they moved him nearer - now 20 miles away. Yet again without consulting me.

That doesn’t sound right nemo. Though it did happen to my mum a few years ago. I visited her every day so no excuse not telling me.
Your dh should have a care manager/social worker who if you havnt already, you should contact. They should be liaising with you.
Ask at the home where your dh is.

Sadly, this is what happens in the name of 'efficiency'. There is so little spare capacity that ridiculous situations like this arise.

I am so sad for your brother and his friend. as a nurse I know how much social contact helps patients to heal.

If you are fit and active, you can walk to our local hospital in 3-4 hours, and some do this, and back, for visiting. If you can't walk that far, the bus journeys take even longer, and to visit for about an hour, you would be out all day (some have to do this).

I hope it is resolved, they must be grateful to you for helping.

silverlining48

Presumably if it’s just a fall the friend won’t be in hospital all that long. There is huge press on hospitals so they won’t keep her longer than needed.

My Mum ended up staying in hospital for six weeks after a fall in the shower at home, no bones broken but badly bruised.
Partly this was because she refused to accept any carers coming to her at home, and the hospital refused to discharge her until she agreed.
The social worker told me that as I have power of attorney I could overrule Mum, thankfully she did eventually agree.
She still had to stay in until the OT department had visited the house and fitted some safety equipment.
You can't always expect elderly people to be discharged quickly 🙁

silverlining48

Presumably if it’s just a fall the friend won’t be in hospital all that long. There is huge press on hospitals so they won’t keep her longer than needed.

Sometimes it depends on the cause of the fall . My mother had a fall recently and as she was complaining of dizziness, the hospital did loads of tests and found her bp was very high . They wouldn’t discharge her until her bp was lower and was stabilised . And that took a week .

With increasing specialisation it’s inevitable sadly. Or it is in this area. When Mr C was in hospital for major surgery recently my options from home were buses or taxi, currently £67 each way. I’m lucky, I could get the bus and cope with the two hour journey door to door, many folk can’t.

I’m sorry your brothers friend is so isolated dee, it must be distressing. Is there a clinical reason for the change of location? Has anyone asked? In any case I hope home or closer to home very soon.

Our local Hospice received a donation of several iPads so that patients without visitors could Facetime them - could this be an option. Someone could show her how to do this and it would make her feel less lonely.

Silverlining. We are now on our third social worker. None are very helpful and do not carry out any requests. I have given up.

I am sorry nemo. They should be keeping you involved in or at the very least aware of decisions. Dont give up, complain.

I can understand both sides and of course if there is some specialized treatment she would be in the best place. I did hospital car volunteer driving for over 10 years 3 days a week, so have some knowledge of this sort of thing. My only suggestion that may help a little is are you able to contact someone like the Rotary Club or something like friends of the hospital sort of thing, where they may run a scheme to be able to take people to visit for the cost of the fuel. alternatively - whilst of course understanding how busy people will be at this time - if you have friends or perhaps are members of some clubs you may have people who again would be prepared to take you to the hospital for the cost of the fuel to go there? Quite separately from doing the ambulance car scheme I took a few people over the years , who all lived alone with no local relatives, to various things , usually to visit someone of importance to them, but once took a lady who for medical reasons , could no longer drive, and longed to see the sea and there was no public transport that would have given her a reasonable day. So I picked her up from her house, took her to the coast and she did whatever she wanted to do for the day. She paid for the fuel, as unfortunately I do not have the resources to be able to give that to her but was very happy to give my time, so perhaps if you look around you may have someone who could help you in this way. I wish you the best of luck and that they will not be in hospital for long

I used to do this via the Red Cross. I don’t know if they still enable bedridden patients to be visited.

Sounds like her fall wasn't serious but has been moved for her ongoing health issues. The hospital she has been moved to may be the best one to address these. Has there been any info on how long stay may be? Perhaps those who can travel can do a rota vwuth someone visiting every 3/4 days and liaising about needs for her hospital stay. Not the ideal position but at least receiving care.