by
Greta » Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:57 am
My brother is a bariatric patient. A hoist has to be used to wash him and to put him in a wheelchair, which he sits in for two hours a day, or to go to hospital. We call a special (bariatric) ambulance but the paramedics are not allowed to use the hoist. Once one came who had had hoist training and she said that paramedics might be allowed to use the hoist, but there are so many different ones that they are frightened of liability if there is an accident. She recommended that I get hoist training but said it is expensive.
I have since heard that family members are allowed to use the hoist without training, but I was happier with the training.
The only hoist training I could get was by Pat Alexander of Herts Handling in St Albans. When she was at a hospital near here (I am in East London), she came to our house and gave me two hours' training, I think, costing about three hundred pounds. I practised hoisting her with my brother's hoist. We didn't hoist him because it would have been stressful. I learnt a lot about the problems of the two types of slings we have and how to make sure he is sitting properly in the sling. Actually it is not that hard to use the hoist and the main thing I learnt was how to attach the sling straps properly to the hoist.
After this, I found that paramedics would help me with the hoist since I knew what I was doing. I can also allow two hours in the wheelchair. We have careworkers in four times a day, but if my brother went into the wheelchair in the morning and waited for them to release him, it would vary between three hours and five hours. This way, I can put him back to bed. I don't take the sling off though.
Your position may vary, if your caree doesn't weigh thirty stone! Your local authority might also have a better way of getting cheaper training for you.
However, your careworkers should have had hoist training, and OT should have been involved. Our hoist is a ceiling-track one - maybe you are thinking of a freestanding hoist.