Hallo everyone,
A long-standing elderly friend (aged 88) has recently gone into a residential care home for the rest of his life. He has hardly got the use of his legs, so is wheelchair-bound, and has a permanent urinary catheter. Otherwise, he is more or less OK. Mentally he is alert, and "dying" of boredom.
I have suggested to various friends that we should take him out for short local trips (using a taxi adapted for wheelchairs which will be expensive), and have received a surprisingly negative reaction. Their attitude seems to be "Oh well, he's in a care home, he's in a wheelchair, and he has a catheter, taking him out is pointless. It has been explained to him that he is in a care home for the rest of his life, so there's nothing more we can do..."
I can't see why having a catheter would stop him going out of the care home? Certainly, being in a wheelchair is no obstacle to mobility, and wheelchairs can have discrete bags attached for "drainage". I have yet to speak to medical staff there regarding outings (he has only very recently gone into the home). They may well approve. Hopefully they will. I think it would be incredibly good for my friend's morale.
Has anyone else been told (by friends and/or medical staff) they can't take someone out for an afternoon simply because they are in a wheelchair and have a catheter? It sounds like control-freak bunkum to me! (sorry, just letting off a bit of steam...). But maybe I am wrong? Maybe there are complicated legal issues of responsibility and duty of care? Any thoughts would be welcome.
A long-standing elderly friend (aged 88) has recently gone into a residential care home for the rest of his life. He has hardly got the use of his legs, so is wheelchair-bound, and has a permanent urinary catheter. Otherwise, he is more or less OK. Mentally he is alert, and "dying" of boredom.
I have suggested to various friends that we should take him out for short local trips (using a taxi adapted for wheelchairs which will be expensive), and have received a surprisingly negative reaction. Their attitude seems to be "Oh well, he's in a care home, he's in a wheelchair, and he has a catheter, taking him out is pointless. It has been explained to him that he is in a care home for the rest of his life, so there's nothing more we can do..."
I can't see why having a catheter would stop him going out of the care home? Certainly, being in a wheelchair is no obstacle to mobility, and wheelchairs can have discrete bags attached for "drainage". I have yet to speak to medical staff there regarding outings (he has only very recently gone into the home). They may well approve. Hopefully they will. I think it would be incredibly good for my friend's morale.
Has anyone else been told (by friends and/or medical staff) they can't take someone out for an afternoon simply because they are in a wheelchair and have a catheter? It sounds like control-freak bunkum to me! (sorry, just letting off a bit of steam...). But maybe I am wrong? Maybe there are complicated legal issues of responsibility and duty of care? Any thoughts would be welcome.
