It has been a while since my last blog, not that my situation changed at all but unfortunately I got accustomed to the daily blunders of care professions, so I felt less inspired to blog about something I had accepted as part of life. But today I heard a story that made me so furious and angry that I decided to return to the one place I feel one day could make a difference, my blog.
Before I start narrating the story, let me just remind you of a song that popped into my head as soon as I heard this case, Phil Collins 'he ain't heavy he is my brother', its not the actual music I am interested in but the idea behind that line. The story begins with an old age pensioner in her mid 80s, lives alone and is a wheelchair user, due to her weight she has to be hoisted (over 14 stone approx). Yesterday at 7pm the carer went to get the lady ready for bed only to find the hoist has broken down, so she calls the emergency repair hotline and is told by the care agency to wait until the hoist is fixed. All perfectly reasonable so far, 3 hours later still no sign of the hoist engineer, every time the carer called the hotline number gets told they are coming. By 10:30pm the carer could no longer wait, which is understandable as she has to get home, see to her own family and prepare for the next day, so the carer covers the old lady with blanket and leaves her to spend the night sitting in her wheelchair without even going to the toilet!!!.
Can any of us imagine sleeping seated in a wheelchair without going to the toilet for more than 18 hours???? Well that is what this lady had to endure as the hoist engineer did not turn up, when the carer returned in the morning the hoist was still broken and it remained so until this afternoon. (I have not been updated at the time of my blogging) Whose to blame for the degrading and painful night that the vulnerable OAP had to endure? It is certainly the engineer for not coming to fix the hoist, but how can a human being's life depend on a machine??? if the woman had children living near they would have struggled to lift her, if we lived in a world that has a sense of community and compassion then the neighbours would have gone to help, if social care was in better shape than its current state then there would be a contingency plan, a sort of back up that ensures the welfare of the old and vulnerable is never jeopardised. It is ironic that so much care is on offer but served with little care.
Phil Collins did not notice the weight of the person because he was a brother, 10 stone will seem like lifting an elephant if you are not related to the person or more accurately if there is no emotional involvement.
There are so many people, system and institutions to blame but all have one common ground lack of care and compassion.
