Posted By Laurie
I have followed this thread with some interest, since I have actually been on the receiving end of this policy.
Prior to my wife being allowed home after a stroke, various agencies – occupational therapists, home help agency, appliances and aids, district nurse etc – met at the house to see what procedures and equipment were needed, or were in place, to continue her rehabilitation.
It was agreed that a carer would come in first thing in the morning to assist with dressing and getting up..
When it came to descending the stair, my wife can only come down backwards, and it was suggested that the best way would be for the carer to stand one step down, behind my wife, holding onto both handrails, to brace my wife should she become unsteady. The carer manager was aghast at this, and said that the carer must be above my wife so that she, the carer, would not be injured if my wife fell. When I asked how this was assisting my wife, she said that the carer would be there to help my wife once she had fallen, and could call the ambulance! This was a requirement under the Health & Safety at Work Act. Like any red blooded safety officer I thereupon produced the said act from my briefcase (I had come straight from work) and asked her to show me where!
This is personally experienced factual information, everybody, not some apocryphal story, so it is happening, and it is happening now.
The bad part about this is that up until this point ( and since) my wife and I have nothing but praise for the nursing, rehab and social care organisation and staff.
There has been some adverse comment about the public sector , and bureaucrats, and having told you the nightmare, it is only fair that I tell you the dream.
When my wife arrived at the local trust hospital, having had her emergency care in another NHS Trust area, she was met by a smiling ward sister, not at the entrance to the ward, but at the front door of the hospital. On the way to the ward she told my wife that she had a nice bed near the window and how everybody was looking forward to meeting her. She also said that they were not sure when my wife would be arriving, but they had kept her some lunch back , but not to worry if she didn't want it as they would make her some soup or toast if she preferred.
When I arrived to visit I was told I could visit at ant time (and I actually did call in once on my way to work at 7.15 a.m.!) and shown where I could make tea and toast if I or my wife were hungry or thirsty at any time. During my wife's time in hospital (she was there for more than six months) I was approached during visiting by a member of the nursing staff who told me that it had been decided at my wife's last case discussion that I was showing signs of depression, and an appointment had been made for me to see the unit's clinical psychologist.
During my wife's stay every few weeks the nurses would, entirely of their own volition, arrange a minibus and take the whole ward to a local hostelry for lunch; this normally meant off duty staff coming in to help with wheel chairs as most of the patients were mobility impaired.
On the real health and safety side, before I was allowed to take my wife out in the car I had to have instruction, and demonstrate to the satisfaction of two physios, transfer from car to wheelchair and back risk of injury to either myself or my wife,
Help was given with application for disability allowance, blue badge, Motability concessionary taxi vouchers and concessionary bus fares. This last was the one area where we received bad advice, since when we went to the council offices to get the necessary concessionary fare bus pass we were told that what my wife should really have was two free bus passes, one for her and the other for any companion who was with her, and these were duly issued within minutes.
Prior to my wife being allowed home we had a visit from have a dozen agencies, as indicated above, to discuss bath lifts, stair rails and other appliances. Once again I also had to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of two physios, that I could pick my wife up off the floor, as a deadweight, both from lying on her affected side and her unaffected side, and not from the floor of a nice clear gymnasium, but an area that had been deliberately obstructed, as it would be at home – that again is real health and safety in the real world.
When my wife left hospital she was told that they were only a phone call away, and they were our (not just her) safety net. This was repeated during the three years my wife made rehab visits. Last year, five years after discharge, we had occasion to ring with a very minor problem and an appointment was made within the week, and when we had to make an outpatients visit last week, some six years on, everyone still remembered my wife's first name, and when nursing staff heard she was in the outpatients they came down from the ward to say hello.
This is the system as it should be and this is also personally experienced factual information, and it is really happening, and it is happening now. Unfortunately of course the story that we always tell, and the actual prompt for this response, is how the home help was simply there to call the ambulance.
It only takes one.
Sorry to have gone on at such length about much that is not really a health and safety issue, but, as I said, it is only fair to give both sides of the story.
Incidentally, for those of you who may just starting in this fascinating business (where else would you be expected to display a detailed knowledge of colostomy bags, fireworks and dead pigeons in the space of one hour!) it is a good idea to keep a copy of the Act to hand for use as described above. It doesn't take up much space, and it isn't heavy, and when somebody says – "It says in the Health and Safety at Work Act......) you can produce it and ask where – they don't normally know about the hundreds of sets of Regs. which are part of our daily life! Childish I know, but oh so satisfying!
Laurie