What can we do now so we don't become 'bed-blockers' in the future.

A keysafe was the first thing I had fitted when DH died, my son ordered it and fitted it. I am lucky I have a side entrance so had it place by back door as I felt being by front door exposed to anyone passing by that there was an older person living in the house. I also got linked up to careline via a pendant which I wear on a chain round my neck. Both these things made me feel much safer as if I was ill or fell I could contact someone for help and that help can get into the house. The jeysafe was most useful when I had HR last summer as the rehabilitation team calling each morning to change compression stockings could gain entry and I didn't have to worry if I was upstairs about rushing to answer the door. Therefore I agree they could help in the case of someone who just needs a small amount of care maybe once or twice a day. That person could be discharged if these things are in place.

Our daughter lives 10 minutes away and has a spare key, there is a spare key hidden in the front garden, (I hope I don’t forget where it is) I also have a key safe but we haven’t fixed it up yet.

But surely bed blocking is more about who will look after you when you get home, having food in the cupboards and fridge and having the heating on if you’ve been in hospital for a while?
That’s assuming you are well enough to even go home, most bed blockers are, I think, waiting for a space in a nursing home.

I doubt the lack of a keysafe would keep someone in hospital, they are so quick and cheap to fit. I fanyone said that, they were just looking fpor excuses.

What we need is a return to convalescent homes, and halfway houses that can look after people on their way home, with fewer medical staff and more care workers and more active work on rehabilitaion.

Hospitals also need to look at themselves and ask why so many older people, who are living at home entirely independently before they need to go into hospital, come out of hospital doubly incontinent, without any muscle tone and needing fulltime care or a lot of home support.

I read a quite shocking piece in the paper this week (I cannot remember which) about hospitals putting in catheters or putting people in nappies because they can't or won't give them bedpans or take them to the loo when they ask. It is easier to just deal with toilet needs when it is convenient for the nurses, rather than maintain an older persons control over their bladder and bowels.

DH spent 8 weeks with a catheter. In his case because he was too ill and barely conscious mostof the time. When he came home, he had little bladder control and it took six months of training himself before he rgained complete control.

It is easy to blame social services etc, but the hospitals also play their part in failing to maintain people's independence.

The only guaranteed way would be to have loads of money so you can buy your way into a nursing home of your choice.

Who knows what's around the corner health wise - in the meantime I'm endeavouring to stay out of hospital by eating well, staying fit and watching my weight.

Family history makes me a candidate for various ailments which I'm doing my best to avoid.

Oopsadaisy1

Our daughter lives 10 minutes away and has a spare key, there is a spare key hidden in the front garden, (I hope I don’t forget where it is) I also have a key safe but we haven’t fixed it up yet.

But surely bed blocking is more about who will look after you when you get home, having food in the cupboards and fridge and having the heating on if you’ve been in hospital for a while?
That’s assuming you are well enough to even go home, most bed blockers are, I think, waiting for a space in a nursing home.

I'm like you with the key safe, Oopsadaisy. My mother had one; I know how useful they are. It saved us from having the firemen break in, which happened the first time she fell - much cheaper too!

I will have one; I have thought I would since we put Mum's in. It will now be sooner rather than later. But I didn't feel ready. That's why I would like them installed in all new buildings. You don't have to be old to be in the sort of position we have described.

Getting someone available to care, paid for or family, is more and more difficult. I really would like to see more technology used. No one in their 30s, 40s, or 50s is going to want an old-fashioned system; they will want a version of Alexa or her cousins I haven't seen any advertised but we will need them so we can be independent of surgeries (not of GPs). I wonder what technology people are using to help them.

M0nica

I doubt the lack of a keysafe would keep someone in hospital, they are so quick and cheap to fit. I fanyone said that, they were just looking fpor excuses.

What we need is a return to convalescent homes, and halfway houses that can look after people on their way home, with fewer medical staff and more care workers and more active work on rehabilitaion.

Hospitals also need to look at themselves and ask why so many older people, who are living at home entirely independently before they need to go into hospital, come out of hospital doubly incontinent, without any muscle tone and needing fulltime care or a lot of home support.

I read a quite shocking piece in the paper this week (I cannot remember which) about hospitals putting in catheters or putting people in nappies because they can't or won't give them bedpans or take them to the loo when they ask. It is easier to just deal with toilet needs when it is convenient for the nurses, rather than maintain an older persons control over their bladder and bowels.

DH spent 8 weeks with a catheter. In his case because he was too ill and barely conscious mostof the time. When he came home, he had little bladder control and it took six months of training himself before he rgained complete control.

It is easy to blame social services etc, but the hospitals also play their part in failing to maintain people's independence.

I doubt the lack of a keysafe would keep someone in hospital, they are so quick and cheap to fit. I fanyone said that, they were just looking fpor excuses.

They were only talking about a couple of days M0nica but you have to have someone to organise and do it so I can imagine it could be that. Even a couple of days here or there adds up in costs.

Riverwalk

The only guaranteed way would be to have loads of money so you can buy your way into a nursing home of your choice.

Who knows what's around the corner health wise - in the meantime I'm endeavouring to stay out of hospital by eating well, staying fit and watching my weight.

Family history makes me a candidate for various ailments which I'm doing my best to avoid.

I'm trying to think about keep independence and not just old people either Riverwalk

M0nica

I doubt the lack of a keysafe would keep someone in hospital, they are so quick and cheap to fit. I fanyone said that, they were just looking fpor excuses.

What we need is a return to convalescent homes, and halfway houses that can look after people on their way home, with fewer medical staff and more care workers and more active work on rehabilitaion.

Hospitals also need to look at themselves and ask why so many older people, who are living at home entirely independently before they need to go into hospital, come out of hospital doubly incontinent, without any muscle tone and needing fulltime care or a lot of home support.

I read a quite shocking piece in the paper this week (I cannot remember which) about hospitals putting in catheters or putting people in nappies because they can't or won't give them bedpans or take them to the loo when they ask. It is easier to just deal with toilet needs when it is convenient for the nurses, rather than maintain an older persons control over their bladder and bowels.

DH spent 8 weeks with a catheter. In his case because he was too ill and barely conscious mostof the time. When he came home, he had little bladder control and it took six months of training himself before he rgained complete control.

It is easy to blame social services etc, but the hospitals also play their part in failing to maintain people's independence.

You are so right MOnica. I know many such cases where people have lost their independence through hospital stays. An acute ward is busy and it’s not the place for rehabilitation once the acute problem has been treated. Hospitals do have rehab wards but I think there is a shortage of capacity.

Convalescent and similar places were closed years back, but surely it is what is needed now, to relieve “bed blocking” and to help elderly back to independence with some good home support.

Moving into appropriate, easier, & perhaps smaller accommodation, can make sense. Plus ensuring sensible and simple things in place like handrails and grab-rails/seats in showers and bathrooms. My MIL had her bath removed and a shower installed in its place (complete with seating and handrails). This was a brilliant move: she was able to shower safely & independently. When MIL became very elderly, her carers could help her easily to have her shower.

The other thing to do is look after ourselves: weight within BMI, waist inder 32 inches, healthy diet, high in fruit and veg and plenty of exercise. Keep your mind alert and active.

The better you look after yourself, the less likely you are to ened up in hospital.

That's what we are doing Monica trying to use it not lose it.

There are still rehab hospitals & wards but sometimes patients have to wait longer to get into rehab than they would for care to be set up at home. Likewise with "good home support" there are dedicated teams working with most hospitals that provide just that, but they are very busy and there may be a wait for that option. The other problem with it is that after 6 weeks the home care / support visits are no longer NHS funded & unfortunately not everyone transitions back to being independant, so at that point they may end up back in hospital.As others have said, keysafes don't take long to fit but that certainly does delay discharges by a day or so for some people, and every day counts in getting people home before they're deconditioned, or pick up an infection, from a long hospital stay.

I read that newspaper article too MOnica. It was in the Mail.
It made very disturbing reading didn’t it?
A representative from, I think, Age UK was also calling for elderly patients to be assessed both physically and mentally on arrival in hospital and again upon discharge, and if there is a deterioration in either of those then the hospital should be held to account.

valdali

There are still rehab hospitals & wards but sometimes patients have to wait longer to get into rehab than they would for care to be set up at home. Likewise with "good home support" there are dedicated teams working with most hospitals that provide just that, but they are very busy and there may be a wait for that option. The other problem with it is that after 6 weeks the home care / support visits are no longer NHS funded & unfortunately not everyone transitions back to being independant, so at that point they may end up back in hospital.As others have said, keysafes don't take long to fit but that certainly does delay discharges by a day or so for some people, and every day counts in getting people home before they're deconditioned, or pick up an infection, from a long hospital stay.

Thanks valdali, it’s good to hear from somebody who knows the system.

One of the most important things we can all do to help prevent us becoming bed blockers is to do balance and strengthening exercises, including plenty of walking. Reduce your risk of falling.

Maybe that's partly true M0nica but DH ate healthily, wasn't overweight and had a great intellect. It didn't stop him getting cancer and dying before both his parents.

I use poles and yaktrax when out walking. I have broken my wrist twice and never want to do that again or worse. I also have a keypad.

My poor DM fell in her own flat and wasn't found for 13 hours. She had broken her hip and her alarm was on her bedside table instead of round her neck.
Once in hospital she became incontinent because nurses were too busy to bring bed pans or help her to the loo.
There was a convalescent home for her for a few weeks but this was 15 years ago and things have not improved. She returned home to a care package and lived for a few more years.

Aren’t there rehab hospitals there then ? That is where people recovering but not well enough to go home go here. I’m thinking my mum ,who lived in the UK, was right to totally refuse to go to hospital because she firmly believed they ‘killed old people’. She died in her own home in the end.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I don’t like that BMI thingo at all, AussieGran. Reckon it is based on skinny little runts and not normal people.🤸‍♀️🤸🏻

Convalescent homes would be good, but no money to run them. Our largeish hospital, 20 miles away, was where you went for operations, but then transferred to our little cottage hospital to recuperate. This was of course many years ago.

So much better than nowadays, but cottage hospitals no longer exist round here. Also where elderly folk might spend their last days was often there, cared for by local doctors and nursing staff, made visiting for family and friends so much easier,

Cottage hospitals have been rebadged as community hospitals or local hospitals, or wards in general hospitals have been designated as rehabilitation wards, so beds do still exist. However, there are a lot fewer of them because due to the lack of funding in the NHS many thousands of beds have been closed.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AussieGran59

As a nurse I can assure you not everyone in hospital is there because they haven’t looked after themselves. I see just as many skinny people as I do overweight ones. I see fitness fanatics and couch potatoes. Yes, eat well to feel good but having your weight at the recommended BMI is no guarantee of anything.

That’s very unlikely AussieGran. As two thirds of adults are overweight, you’ll be seeing at least twice as many. But a healthy lifestyle is not just about weight anyway.

nanna8

Aren’t there rehab hospitals there then ? That is where people recovering but not well enough to go home go here. I’m thinking my mum ,who lived in the UK, was right to totally refuse to go to hospital because she firmly believed they ‘killed old people’. She died in her own home in the end.

Rehab hospitals are the norm in so many countries, but not in the UK, sadly.

Fleurpepper

nanna8

Aren’t there rehab hospitals there then ? That is where people recovering but not well enough to go home go here. I’m thinking my mum ,who lived in the UK, was right to totally refuse to go to hospital because she firmly believed they ‘killed old people’. She died in her own home in the end.

Rehab hospitals are the norm in so many countries, but not in the UK, sadly.

Read my post above Fleurpepper, yes they are still in the UK. The BMJ did a survey in 2017, when the Community Hospitals Association estimated that there are 327 community hospitals in England and 500 in the UK overall. More have no doubt closed since then, but there are still a substantial number open.