The Wheels Of The Poo Panel

[gness]

grind exceeding slow.
Further to my incontinence pad rant on 25th July you won't be surprised to hear that the Poo Panel has yet to decide whether or not my ninety year old, dementia suffering, bedridden, and doubly incontinent mother can be prescribed the large size incontinence pads.
Yes, I can continue to buy them, and will, but this is a problem the home is having with such requests for other residents and they are at their wit's end with all the red tape. Pads should be supplied in the Care Package but the panel dictates the size and quantity and if someone has no family to help......?
So I offered to take on the Poo Panel on behalf of my mother and other residents....the staff seemed delighted that someone else was going to argue the case too.
So....any help or experience you have in this area is welcome.....
I will contact the GP and district nurse too....but they seem tethered by this panel of......... well.....Poo and Wee Inspectors?

[Psybbo]

I wish you luck and hopefully you will find somebody on the PeWe Panel that has a vestige of common sense xx

[DTCwordfan]

send them a poop cake, gness....?

http://scrummymummyscakes.blogspot.co.uk/

[DTCwordfan]

it will soften them up......

[Zacs-Master]

What a set of stools.....I mean tools they are. Who makes up the panel?

[gness]

A nurse led team, Zacs....providing quality care and assessment?? to the good people of Northamptonshire...God bless google...I now have a name and email address.

[Zacs-Master]

Strange. I'd be interested to hear about their systems and procedures. There's obviously something lacking. Possible, to give them the BOOTD, money.

[DTCwordfan]

Seriously, names would be useful as, between us all, we could do some homework on them.....

[gness]

Thanks, DTC...but I now have the name of the person to contact..which I will do on Monday....and take it from there.
Fine if they have to assess to make sure the staff aren't stealing incontinence pads to sell on the black market...;-).. but what on earth have they been mulling over for almost a month now......beats me.

[Psybbo]

Preparing their defence for lack of activity?

[rowanwitch]

The recommendation is for as small as possible for two reasons
Large pads impair mobility and unfortunately often mean staff leave patients sitting for longer between changes. staff often prefer big pads especially if staffing levels are low

Some people will need bigger ones if they have a lot of leakage or if they are faecal smearers as it is harder for them to get their hands in the thick of it

Make sure you can address those points as they may be used to defend the decision. Toileting/changing records from the care home are good with permission or the names blacked out

Also evidence or statements regarding mobility.

Anonymised (s far as client is concerned) photographic evidence e.g soiled chairs/beds photograph with proof of date eg that days newspaper with date or use a camera with date time print function to show how often it occurs

just a few thoughts might help

oh yes and give reasonable deadlines for responses or they will possibly drag their feet

[josaphine32]

We are in the same boat as you, my 93 year old took a turn for the worst in january, as she was admitted to smh, and then a comunity hospital for several weeks, she came home pallet of care, and had to be reassesed that she still needed pads, I felt like saying NO her prolapsed bowl has magically disappeared and the oxygen canesters that she is rigged up to 24/7 are just there to make her jewelry look pretty, they only gave her 4 sanitary pads a day, can you believe it, we now order our pull up pads and incontinence pads on line, the incontanance service is a complete joke. X

[gness]

Rowan...thank you for that information.......really helpful, especially paragraph 2.
She has been a smearer for a couple of years now....awful when my brother and I were looking after her....common it seems but I don't understand it.

Josaphine....it really is a joke, isn't it. Things are hard enough to deal with as it is without some jobs worth interfering....perhaps if they took a turn at the changing and caring things would improve....x

[Jeza]

Everyone who is in this position has my upmost admiration. I wouldn't want do it but I suppose needs must.

[Spoonboy]

So, the staff are delighted for you to take on their dirty work - no pun intended. That's nice of them.

[gness]

Not like that at all, Spoon....They struggle with the powers that be and they have jobs to protect...wrong I know but it's the way of the world sadly.
I don't and I have the balls to fight for what I think is right...and for the good care of my mother....don't like her but she deserves the best we can get for her and the other residents.
We pay the staff for their care...which is excellent...we don't pay them to fight for incontinence pads.

Hi Jeza....x

[DaisyNonna]

gness. Admire what you are trying to do. Best of luck. Everybody with a problem like this needs a gness on their side

[Jeza]

Hi Gness. I hope i'm never in your position. Not with Mum or Dad but with Mic. He chokes a lot and often throws up and I can honestly say cleaning up after him turns my stomach. I hope he never gets to the toilet stage.

[Spoonboy]

But, surely, gness, if you pay them to provide the pads, they should be trying to find the larger pads for your mother's, and your, comfort.

[gness]

Hi Daisy...thanks....x

Jeza...I got to that stage with MrG.....surprising what you can do for someone you love. He really hated it..of course he did, he was a proud man but we survived with humour. For my mother it was different...she never liked me and I grew to dislike her so my caring was, I'm ashamed to say..not done willingly or through love, but I did try to retain her dignity.
The crunch came when she started to fill little plastic bags with poo, wait at the bedroom window and fire them at me as I came up the path! Didn't know whether to laugh or cry....x

[gness]

Spoon....they have tried. They showed me all the paperwork from the poo panel today. It is a process they have to adhere to according to the NHS Continence Service.....they have been boxing and coxing to keep up with my mother's needs and I am supplying on a temporary basis.
It really is not the home owners or the carers...it's the NHS as far as I can tell.