"Unsafe discharge of my elderly mother"

My mother is in her 80s, frail and suffering terminal lung cancer. She was recently admitted to Forth Valley Royal Hospital, where she remained for several weeks mainly within ward 22A. During her treatment she was suffering delirium amongst a host of other medical ailments.

Upon my sister's visit, my mother stated that she was getting discharged the following day. At this juncture, both my sisters were of the belief that this comment was due to her delirium. The following day, I was stunned that my mother was getting home that evening with a catheter in place.

When my sister went to convey my mother home, no information was given around her aftercare. My niece also asked the nurse about additional catheter bags and how to empty them, she was informed that the carers would do this and they have the necessary equipment to do so.

Ultimately she was provided with additional catheter bags and released from hospital at 20:00 with a carer attending the following morning, albeit one turned up at 19:00 at her home address prior to her discharge from hospital.

In my view, there is no question that this was indeed an unsafe discharge as follows:

Premature discharge - there was no physical therapy assessment with regards to my Mother’s ability to cope in her home environment. No additional support was put in place other than carers attending at her home address.

Lack of planning - we were not informed of any discharge assessment or anything else of that matter that was carried out.

Insufficient communication - at no time was any member of my family consulted on my mother’s release from hospital and to what was put in place for her. I subsequently phoned the social work at FVRH the following day to see what was put in place, only to be informed that my mother was on the highest care package. No initial holistic safety and welfare check on the day of her discharge was carried out to ensure that her safety and care needs were met. We were not informed of any other parties or agencies that could assist, and no adult carers support plan had/has been discussed.

Lack of resources - there was no additional resources discussed or provided. We’ve since established ourselves that she required a commode.

Discharge to an unsafe environment - my Mother was left at home and when I visited her she was leaning to one side and nearly falling out of her chair. She did not recognise her own home and clearly still had a high-level of delirium as she didn’t even recognise me, her son.

I struggle to see how this situation occurred to an elderly, frail, female living on her own and once released we had to request basic essentials to assist her in her own home - eg catheter bags and incontinence pads. This should have been dealt by way of a complex discharge but I can see no complexity in what occurred. It felt as though my mother was pushed out of the hospital to free up a bed and I have serious concerns over FVRH having been the witness to such failings.

I was extremely annoyed, upset and frustrated watching my mother at home in this condition