Diabetics in Nursing Homes

[jean68spain]

First of all I'd like to say hello to everyone.

I have an investigation going on at the moment due to my Mother who was 93 years old when she passed away in a nursing home and I'd like to have some comments from anyone.

My mother went into Cardiac Arrest on the 21st August 2011 due to HYPOGLYCEMIA.
Her BM at 12.40p.m was at 0.9mmols and I believe that an ambulance should have been called immediately, instead of waiting until 14.31p.m.
The nursing home had managed to raise it during this time to 1.3mmols.
I have just received a response from the nursing home which I am not very happy with and will now go to the LGO with my complaint.

My mother did have several other complaints, but my concern is with the ignorance and lack of training in Care/Nursing homes as to what action should be taken when a diabetic patient is suffering from HYPOGLYCEMIA.

I should state that I am also in touch with Care Quality Commission.

Please let me know that I am not talking rubbish.

Thankyou

 

[ladybird64]

First of all I'd like to say hello to everyone.

I have an investigation going on at the moment due to my Mother who was 93 years old when she passed away in a nursing home and I'd like to have some comments from anyone.

My mother went into Cardiac Arrest on the 21st August 2011 due to HYPOGLYCEMIA.
Her BM at 12.40p.m was at 0.9mmols and I believe that an ambulance should have been called immediately, instead of waiting until 14.31p.m.
The nursing home had managed to raise it during this time to 1.3mmols.
I have just received a response from the nursing home which I am not very happy with and will now go to the LGO with my complaint.

My mother did have several other complaints, but my concern is with the ignorance and lack of training in Care/Nursing homes as to what action should be taken when a diabetic patient is suffering from HYPOGLYCEMIA.

I should state that I am also in touch with Care Quality Commission.

Please let me know that I am not talking rubbish.

Thankyou

Hello Jean

Firstly can I say I am very sorry for your loss. My own mother is 91 and has been in hospital 6 times since Christmas, although unconnected with her admissions, her diabetes is treated with no interest at all.

After reading your post, I would suggest that you contact Diabetes UK, the national charity to see if they can give you some advice and support in this area. Although this forum is excellent, it is a business and would probably not get involved in your case whereas DUK should be able to help you..I certainly hope so.

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/..This is their website and their contact details are at the bottom of the page.

Good luck with getting some answers and just a little personal note from me..Make sure that CQC do the job they are paid to do, they can be rather toothless putting it mildly.

 

[daisy1]

I am very sorry for your loss.

You have a right to see your Mother's records under the Data Protection Act.

She should have had a care plan specifically for her diabetes and actions to be taken in the event of a hypo or if her bg were too high as well as diet, medication details etc. She should have had a named nurse responsible for her care.

Questions should be asked about the delay in calling for medical intervention and the care plan checked to see at what level they think to call for medical intervention and if any of the staff are specifically trained to deal with hypos etc.

 

[jopar]

Hi Jean

Sorry to hear about your mum...

I can't comment from a personal prospective, as it would be unfair to hazard a guess, to whether any body broke company procedure's for the situation..

But can say the QCS, will provide you will all the information once they finished the investigations, and they will not do the home or any staff members any favours, they will fully investigate and if any wrong doing was done then you will know about it, and if any wrong doing then appropriate actions will be taken either against the company or individual staff members if needs be. Sadly often it takes time for the to fully investigate, but this is because they will go through all the paperwork with a very fine tooth comb, interview people, go through the homes procedures etc... And if they find anything it will be dealt with...

But just an overview here concerning diabetic's in nursing home!

It has to be remember that not all Elderly Care homes are nursing homes... Most are actually residential homes not nursing

The difference between them, is that a Nursing home has to have a Qualified Nurse Supervising at all times, dependant on how many residents the staff can be either all standard Care Assistants (not qualified nurses) or a larger home may have a couple qualified nurses on duty, but again majority of staff with be Care Assistants..

In a Residential Home, no staff member is a qualified nurse or can act in that capacity (if they have qualifications) anything that becomes under a 'Nursing' Duty such as dressing wounds, catheter changes, injections etc their doctors community nurse will come into the resident...

As to diabetics in a Residential home, blood glucose Tests or insulin injections can only be done by a trained staff member who received specific training via a medical professional to carry out that specific duty, and you find that most staff members (normally the Shift supervisor) are happy to undertake BG testing, but refuse Insulin injection training so again it's normal for the the community nurse to come to do this..

As to hypo awareness, yes staff do receive training ( or should do) but sometimes it can be difficult for staff to pick up on a residents hypo more so with the elderly, as frailty can mask some of the early indicators of an on-coming hypo, so the resident is quite low before normal observations pick up on something..

 

[ladybird64]

I obviously do not want this very important thread to go off topic but need to pass a comment on your post Jopar.

Regarding the CQC they do not always act on information and findings as they should do which is why I wrote my little part at the bottom of the post. I agree that any investigation takes time which can be frustrating and disturbing for the complainant but it is also important to realise that any organisation can make errors.

CQC are most certainly not exempt from this as some recent and well publicised cases have shown.

However my personal experience with CQC found them to do their job thoroughly and I was pleased with how they conducted their investigations.