Elderly Bundaberg dementia patient’s ‘appalling’ treatment revealed

A patient advocate has slammed the treatment of an elderly dementia patient and his wife in the health system, with allegations of a lack of basic care that included the man being allowed to go almost three weeks without a bowel movement.

Bundaberg Hospital patient advocate Beryl Crosby with the elderly dementia patient she says has been treated appallingly.

A patient health advocate has slammed the “appalling” treatment an elderly dementia patient and his wife have been given in the past few weeks, with allegations of a lack of general care that included the man being let go almost three weeks without a bowel movement.

Bundaberg patient advocate Beryl Crosby said she first became aware of the plight of the 76-year-old patient when he was admitted to Bundaberg Hospital on Sunday, November 26 after having a “severe fall” at a local nursing home.

Despite a CT scan revealing no injuries to his head, his 75-year-old wife (who has asked not to be named) said she was shocked to see his abdomen was swollen and shiny, the result of 18 days without a recorded bowel movement.

She said nobody at the nursing home had made her aware of her husband’s bowel situation, and that a nursing home staff member later told her “he often went two weeks at a time without a movement”.

Photos taken two months apart show how extended the elderly man’s stomach became after not having a bowel movement for 18 days.

After waiting several hours in the ED at Bundaberg Hospital and watching her husband in pain, the distressed wife invoked Ryan’s Rule, a three step process that allows concerned family members to escalate the care of their loved one if they feel the current treatment plan is not working.

But she said she was left even more shocked when a doctor told her her husband’s brain was “dying”, and that she had three options.

“I was told ‘do you want to – take him home to die, leave him at the hospital to die or send him back to the nursing home to die’,” she said.

Her husband was placed on a 48-hour round of antibiotics to treat a kidney infection that had arisen from his impacted bowel.

An image captured by a Bundaberg wife shows her husband waiting in the ambulance bay of Bundaberg Hospital for several hours.

In the following five day he began to improve but concerns were still held about his level of care, with his wife and Mrs Crosby claiming he was not being bathed or washed, and signs were left on his tray which read “no plan” for his ongoing treatment.

“They kept telling me it was the nursing home’s problem, but that’s not the issue,” his wife said.

“I said to them ‘if you’re in a motorbike accident are you going to send them back to the motorbike?’” she said.

She also notes the moment she saidshe stepped in when her husband was almost double-dosed on his medication, due to his chart being duplicated and his everyday medication lost.

“She comes up with two medication charts and she said ‘oh I am so glad you turned up, we were going to give him another lot’,” she said.

Despite protests from his wife and ongoing bowel movement issues, the elderly man was discharged on Friday, December 1, with the hospital telling her his kidney infection had been cleared and he was approved to return to the nursing home.

A note placed at the end of a 76-year-old Bundaberg man’s bed after he was admitted.

A week later, however, he was back in hospital via ambulance in an alleged even worse state.

His wife said this time they had to wait 12 hours to be admitted.

She said they arrived at the hospital around 1pm, and waited four and a half hours in the ambulance bay before being seen by a doctor, who reportedly told them he would have to confirm with his team before readmitting the elderly man.

They were placed in an empty observation room about 5pm because ambulance staff needed their gurney back.

An image taken by the wife when her husband was first discharged from the hospital captures how swollen her husband’s stomach remained despite a week of treatment.

At 75, and a recent stroke survivor, the wife said she slept in a plastic chair overnight with nursing staff checking on them intermittently and apologising for the wait.

At 7am the following day, tired and frustrated her husband had still not admitted to hospital nor guaranteed a bed or treatment, the woman told the morning staff she was going to return home for a meal and a shower only to overhear nursing staff and doctors say “is she allowed to leave? Who’s going to look after him?”.

He was finally admitted eight hours later.

The man was once again discharged back to the nursing home on December 8, without his wife being notified.

She said she has been left heartbroken by the standard of “care” her husband has received, and now fears for his life every time he has to return to the hospital while knowing he needs more care than the nursing home can provide.

Patient advocate Beryl Crosby said the treatment the elderly couple faced was an appalling reflection of the current state of the WBHHS.

“He shouldn’t be back here,” she said, speaking of his return to the nursing home.

Ms Crosby said the elderly couple’s experience was unacceptable.

“This is appalling treatment of dementia patients and their families and the Wide Bay Hospital Health Service and its toxic environment needs to change, and that comes from the top down,” she said.

WBHHS CEO Debbie Carroll responded and said wiole they could not comment on third party allegations due to privacy concerns, she understood “caring for a loved one with dementia is a challenging and often distressing time.”

“Our multidisciplinary teams made up of doctors, nurses, dietitians, social workers, occupational therapists and mental health professionals are highly skilled and experienced in caring for patients with dementia and other age-related conditions,” she said.

The hospital had “multiple programs in place” to support older patients in its system, including multiple support services and upgraded hospital facilities.

“We work with Dementia Training Australia to provide staff with access to a tailored training program focused on developing skills and strategies required for providing nursing care for older patients and those with dementia,” she said.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, and Aged Care Minister Anika Wells were contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.