‘Heart-breaking’ mental and physical decline of Chrissie Noble, 89, delayed in hospital since Boxing Day as her sons former ICT captain Mike Noble and Alistair Mackay sound the alarm
An 89-year-old Inverness woman is suffering a “heart-breaking” mental and physical decline because delayed discharge has left her stuck in hospital since Boxing Day.
Chrissie Noble’s plight is that while she is medically fit to be discharged from Raigmore Hospital, her condition after she lost her sight from a stroke means she needs care which is not available.
While a well-known problem, what they told us marks one of the first times the full impact that delayed discharge can have on families.
Her sons – former Caley Thistle captain Mike Noble and Alistair Mackay – revealed the effect this has on those involved a full six months on from her first admission.
Up until the stroke, she was highly active going to bingo, taking part in church activities and often going out for lunch.
“The stroke that she had has totally taken that away so she won't see again,” Mr Noble said. “So that's when we thought ‘OK, we'll need to try to get her 24/7 care because she'll not be able to look after herself’.
“And because of the stroke, her short-term memory isn't the best either now and obviously she can't see so there are things that she won't be able to do at all.”
His brother Mr Mackay and his wife Maggie returned from Canada to help look after. “There was hardly a day she was in - bingo twice a week, church activities once or twice a week, out for lunch so she was very, very active until she had a stroke,” he said.
“So coming from being very active to nothing, very suddenly is like going from 60mph to zero and that in itself has been a major change for her.”
What they encountered was a system that is teetering on the brink - without the social or nursing care outside the hospital she cannot leave, Mr Mackay said: “It is barely functioning.
“They get her out of bed and then they put her in a chair, the only getting up or moving was when she had to go to the toilet or getting a shower.
“Then it is back in her chair until she goes to bed.”
Mr Noble described her as more like a resident than a patient.
Mr Mackay continued: “She wants out of the hospital. Every day she says ‘take me out, take me out’ but unfortunately we just don’t have the facility to look after her.
“Physically and mentally she is going downhill. Being blind there is no stimulation in the ward, there is no TV and nobody talks because they are either asleep or they have dementia.”
Ms Noble has now developed deep vein thrombosis, a painful condition where a blood clot forms, often because of inactivity.
Mr Noble said: “It just seems you are forgotten about. When you go in and see her like she was, it is terrible. The nurses are obviously doing their best - it is just heart-breaking to see.”
Inverness MP Angus MacDonald said her plight “is tragic, but unfortunately common” as like dozens of others she should be medically well enough for discharge but cannot be.
He said: “The elderly are either sent to care homes huge distances away from their families or if no care beds are available they are admitted to Raigmore or other hospitals where they can be for many months.
“The result is bad for everyone, the elderly person and their family, the fact that waiting lists cannot be reduced and an acute hospital bed costs three times as much as a care bed per night. NHS Highland has the highest level of delayed discharges in Scotland.”
A spokesman for NHS Highland said: “Like many other health and social care partnerships across Scotland, we are experiencing high levels of delayed discharges of patients who are ready to leave hospital.
“There are a variety of reasons for these delays however the most frequent one is finding a suitable onward placement or accommodation that can meet the specific care needs of the individuals waiting to be discharged.
“The remote and rural nature of Highland, Argyll and Bute also means that we have our own unique challenges in delivering care. We continue to face real pressures on services in the community and staffing remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in the care sector.
“We have, however, seen a recent reduction in the number of patients delayed to discharge across NHS Highland.
“We remain committed to further reducing the number of people delayed in hospital by working to improve patient pathways across both our health and social care services, and in particular by providing appropriate care for people in their own home or as close to their home as possible.”