my dad fell and broke his hip while in the care of a mental hospital?

Question

my dad had to have a op and had part of his hip replaced. just 1 week and 4 days later the hospital sent my dad back to the mental hospital. last night i got a call fron the mental hospital saying they are sending him back to the main hospital again because hes become quite ill. can anyone tell me how long should of my dad stayed in hospital after hes op. Thanks

Answer 1

A hip replacement is a big operation. They should of kept him in much longer and started therapy after a week or so. My neighbor broke her hip 6 months ago, and she still needs some therapy. They let him out way to soon. I would do some big time complaining if I were you. Sounds like they just wanted to get rid of him. He needs therapy after he's well enough.

Answer 2

I'm a orthopaedic doctor working in England currently and fractured neck of femurs (ie broken hips) are usually fast-tracked as a priorty in hospitals here.
Aim is to have the patient fit for theatre within 24-48hrs and have the operation done asap. This is to decrease the period of time in bedrest which would result in increased muscle wasting (due to disuse) and longer recovery and physio time.
After the operation is done, we aim to mobilize early (Full weight bearing usually the next day or 2) with physios to strengthen the muscles asap. We aim for discharge in about 5-7 days - staying in an acute hospital has negative effects on mental health (mainly depression), confusion and disorientation in the elderly (due to unfamiliar surroundings) as well as the increased risk of infection (hospitals are full of ill patients with germs flying about - not to mention the well publicised MRSA bug).

However with all that said, we work in the NHS here in England where resources are scarce and not all operations, try as we might, are done in this time frame (also because of patient's other medical problems).
If the patient has other medical problems or complications after the operation, a longer recovery may be needed and certainly although we would aim to discharge as soon as possible, we would only do so if it was safe medically and mobility wise.

In my own experience, we have had patients discharged as soon as 3 days post op spanning to 3 months post op - average is usually 10 - 14 days.

There is no set time on "how long" a patient stays in hospital - every patient is different and and clinical judgement and review from the physios, medical teams, orthopaedic teams and the social teams are used to judge as best we can when a patient is safe for discharge.



As regards the previous answerers comment on "getting rid of patients" - We are doctors and our duty of care is to the patient, not to the bed managers. We discharge only if the patient is safe for discharge.

In the NHS, we have a bed shortage everyday and discharging someone early would not solve anything - the patient would only come back in again for a longer period of time if we discharged a patient who was not safe to discharge (the bed would only fill up again anyway so wheres the incentive to take risks?)

We are constantly under pressure from the bed managers but as clinicians, we do not worry about beds - our concern is for the patient as if the patient needs a bed, its theirs - we leave it to the bed managers to worry about running the hospital.

Answer 3

Time period sounds fine - the "becoming ill" could have happened whilst in the hospital, or not. Hospitals cannot hang onto patients forever, and as your dad was going into care anyway, it was safe to release him. It's just unfortunate he seems to have developed a complication. Don't try and look for someone to blame - just be there for your dad.

Answer 4

He should of been kept in hospital for about a fortnight.