Washing Old Relative's Hospital Clothing

My mother was left in a wet bed. We washed her clothes. When she died her new towel and nightdress went missing. She wasn’t fed, food just left. My father wasn’t fed, his urine left in a jug in the chair which I nearly sat on and had to clean it up. We had to care for them ourselves. Dreadful experiences.

My mums soiled clothing was in a special, sealed bag that could go straight into the washing machine, I guess she was one of the 'luckier' ones.
Really worrying to read this thread and thinking of the future.

What a wonderful idea. My OH was in hospital for 6 weeks last year after being admitted as an emergency with a UTI and sepsis. He spent most of it in a hospital gown, reluctant to leave his bed or chair because of the lack of coverage they provided. He was occasionally given two so he could wear one the opposite way round, but not everyone offered him that level of care.
I'm also disabled and couldn't get from disabled parking to the front door of the hospital, let alone to his ward.
You can just imagine the stink from his hospital bag (that had a change of clothing in addition to what he went in.
He was even discharged in a hospital gown (just the one, with a sheet to 'cover his modesty, which fell off as he climbed the front doorstep!)

Dont talk to me about the state older people are left in in hospital. My husband was in hospital for 5 weeks back in 2020 and he had mobility problems getting out of bed. He could just about walk and sit but could not stand up on his own and could not get out of bed. It was during COVID so we couldn't visit. They left him sitting in his own "S**T (he had a catheter for urine) and he ended up with a very large moisture lesion on his bottom. I instigated a Safeguarding Enquiry but as usual they closed ranks on me and it was unsubstantiated.

They didn't even manage to brush my Mum's hair when she was in hospital so the washing was a complete no go.

Nor my mums.
Probably because they were all huddled around the work station scrolling through Facebook and screeching with laughter every time we visited.

Granniesunite Spot on! When DH was in Hospice Ward I constantly checked his locker for clothing The ckean stuff constantly dusapoeared but I couldn't see the used clothing. Only on asking was I told it's in a plastic bag in the bathroom. My DH was so ill he didn't use the ensuite bathroom 6 visitors, no matter how long you were with your relative, were not allowed to use the facility. Had to go 3 flights down for public one. How were visitors meant to get the laundry? Appalling lack of consideration.

If someone wanted to start a business, collecting soiled clothes, and delivering them back all clean might be a viable idea.

I’m so very sorry to read all these post but Redhead your story is shocking. 💐 End of life and not being treated well.I really hope you complained and shouted loudly!

My dad spent the last few weeks of life in a hospice and the compassionate and supportive care he received has stayed with me. I can never thank the overworked staff enough>and it comforts me to think he was comfortable in his last days.

MissAdventure

If someone wanted to start a business, collecting soiled clothes, and delivering them back all clean might be a viable idea.

I doubt if anyone would want to pay the high cost of the laundry. Everything would need labelling or washing separately. My mums's stuff needed laundry liquid,stain remover and scent beads to make sure it was clean and smelt. ok.

Glorianny

welbeck

maybe they knew there was someone visiting that patient who would notice and possibly complain if she was neglected.

That's entirely possible.

But I think although hospitals supply a basic level of care for every patient it is hard for staff to provide anything extra. In wards where there is a large number of patients with many needs, who are not able to do things for themselves, it is very difficult. Doing something like writing a note to visitors about washing might seem very little, but when you have two or sometimes three changes a day and 30-40 patients to deal with it becomes time consuming. Plus when they've changed one patient there's quite often another one buzzing for help.

If you live a long way away it must be difficult. But when my mum lived 100 miles from me and was hospitalised I spent every weekend staying at her place and visiting. Leaving her on Sunday night with a week's clothing and returning Friday night to collect her washing. She was younger then but still needed washing doing.

That must have been a while ago then because these days you never know how long your relative is going to be in hospital. It is not unusual to turn up as a visitor and be told “she can go home now.”

Ah well then...
Everything is at a cost, of course.

I realise my mum had excellent care in the hospital ward. I attribute much of this to the sister who ran the ward and who was so understanding and sensitive to the needs of the older people on his ward. He was also great at overcoming fears. The physio once said she wished she could take him with her on her rounds. He has however moved away from the wards for the elderly. I think it must be a very stressful area to work in and perhaps he needed a break. He had infinite patience with some of the patients with dementia.

Primrose53

Glorianny

welbeck

maybe they knew there was someone visiting that patient who would notice and possibly complain if she was neglected.

That's entirely possible.

But I think although hospitals supply a basic level of care for every patient it is hard for staff to provide anything extra. In wards where there is a large number of patients with many needs, who are not able to do things for themselves, it is very difficult. Doing something like writing a note to visitors about washing might seem very little, but when you have two or sometimes three changes a day and 30-40 patients to deal with it becomes time consuming. Plus when they've changed one patient there's quite often another one buzzing for help.

If you live a long way away it must be difficult. But when my mum lived 100 miles from me and was hospitalised I spent every weekend staying at her place and visiting. Leaving her on Sunday night with a week's clothing and returning Friday night to collect her washing. She was younger then but still needed washing doing.

That must have been a while ago then because these days you never know how long your relative is going to be in hospital. It is not unusual to turn up as a visitor and be told “she can go home now.”

She'd had a major stomach bleed. She was still active and although nearly 80 quite capable of caring for herself. If they had discharged her she would have taken an ambulance home. She just couldn't do the washing.

I believe it is down to the ward manager, how each ward can differ.
My mum had great care, and downright abuse, in the same hospital, with the same stay, but different wards.

As a qualified nurse ( now retired) this sort of thing always upsets me. I hate to think of people not being looked after properly.

Soiled items should be sealed in a bag which dissolves in the washing machine, so you don't need to handle it -not on top of clean items / toothbrush. I would have expected every member of staff to know and do this!!

When I was a first year student nurse, a ward sister used to say to us "treat every patient as if they are your mother or father and you won't go far wrong - she was right. That was 45 years ago and I have never forgotten it.

I'm pretty sure anyone who works in a hospital or care environment knows about handling of these things.

If they don't, they need to do more training.

When my father was in hospital his pyjamas kept disappearing and I kept going to M&S to buy new pyjamas. After a while I decided it was best he wore the hospital pyjamas and just bought some new ones for when he went home as all his had gone.
This was a long time ago so I don't know how things are now.

Granniesunite. Like your dad, my darling mum was in a hospice. The care she received was second to none. I couldn’t have asked for more. I, along with my daughter, were given a relatives room to sleep in. It was beautiful. Our meals were provided along with drinks throughout our stay. It really made such a sad and difficult time a little easier.

When my mum was in hospital and had other visitors with her she rang the buzzer to be taken to the loo, she was connected to a drip and was very weak. Nobody came to assist so one of visitors went to nurses station where 5 nurses were sat chatting. They said someone would come straight away, nobody did so another visitor went back to the station, nurses all sat laughing, he tore them off a strip and left them but by then my mum had soiled herself and was very distressed. Visitor managed to get her and the drip to the loo and clean her up and change her. She must have been totally mortified - no nurse came to help!!!
She was eventually moved to a private room and said that the only person who ever stopped to chat to her was the cleaner who asked every day how she was doing, brought her fresh cold water and an extra pillow which the nurses took off her the next day. A couple of days later she passed away.

knspol. I quite believe that. I was on a ward once with a lovely young woman who had lost one hand and one foot to meningitis. She was really fed up as she had been in over 2 weeks and she was desperate to get her hair washed.

The nurses kept promising but never did it yet they had time to sit at the nurses station swopping holiday stories. She had no relatives living here so in the end one of the other patients washed it for her and she was so grateful.

Sometimes I wish the b****y smart phone hadn’t been invented. In the workplace it has enabled people to give the impression they are busy whilest doing absolutely nothing of any relevance to their job.

I agree Miss Adventure. May we will live to see these entrepreneurs on Dragons Den.

I have been ringing round local laundries to seek such a service; one of them said they would do so but the bag of washing would be collected from Reception not the bedside , so obviously there has to be cooperation with the hospital authority at the appropriate level so institute a suitable collection point and personal to fetch and deliver to the collection point, or else special permission for laundry personal to be at the bedside as there is for cleaners.

personnel

I had an appointment at the hospital allergy clinic, and a nurse was supposed to give me "the scratch test" before I saw the consultant. This test involves a small scratch on the inner arm, then a couple of drops from a phial of food to test. There were about 25 phials and they had to be used in order otherwise if my skin reacted, no one would know which phial had been used.

The nurse doing the test was chatting the whole time to a colleague who just stood there watching - she actually said "Oh, I've lost track of where I've got to." The whole test was meaningless because she was so busy chatting about her social life and had no idea which phial she had just tested.

I wanted to say something but didn't think it would work in my favour.

Then I saw the consultant who shouted at me because I have a lot of allergies and intolerances and he obviously didn't want to listen to my long list of them. At the end he said that the scratch test is only 80% accurate anyway! (even less accurate with nurses not concentrating!!) Then he sent me on my way.