Tag Archives: hospital

‘Unacceptable’ that families ‘not told of resuscitation plans’

Thousands of people in England have had “do not resuscitate” orders imposed on them without their family’s knowledge, an audit of dying patients suggests.

One in five families were not consulted where doctors had decided not to revive their relative, a sample study by The Royal College of Physicians found.

Hospitals must “do better”, and it was “unforgivable” not to tell families, report author Prof Sam Ahmedzai said.

NHS England said end-of-life care had improved, but more could be done.

A “do not resuscitate” order (DNR) means medical staff will not attempt to bring the patient back to life if they stop breathing or their heart stops.

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It took a serious accident for my autistic son to get the help he needed

Glass and blood went everywhere when my teenage son removed every fragment of the window he had broken with his bare hands.’

Problems faced when caring for someone with Dementia

Guest blog by Rev Eric Lomax
I live in Lincolnshire, and my parents Valerie and Eric Lomax, are elderly, and live on the Wirral. My mother, Valerie has been steadily declining with Alzheimer’s, for the lat two years, and this has made life very difficult for my father. She would stand at the window and stare out at people, and then demand to go out, looking for her family. Often she would hit my father, while he was driving the car, even on the motorway, and demand that he stop the car. Alternatively, she would get out the passenger side at traffic lights, or bang on the window of other cars. This was dangerous, and I saw  a steady decline in his health as a result of this.
For him, there was constant anxiety over what care would cost, and the fear that he would lose the money he had invested in his home. There was a real lack of information out there, and when I eventually persuaded him to seek advice, institutions would randomly use terms like ‘you will have to pay for her,’ without qualifying that, or explaining what this meant. For this reason, he resolved to struggle on.