# Hospital Passport



## Sharky (22 Feb 2021)

Just wanted to prompt any parents, relatives etc of people with Special Needs, to ensure that one of these exists and is up to date and filed with their local hospital or mental health team.

Wont go into details, but our daughter is currently in hospital and if her passport had been located and available when she was admitted, she would probably have been discharged by now. Unfortunately, she has been kept in an induced sleep (over 10 days now) and new complications have prevented her from coming home. It took about 48 hrs for the hospital staff to fully understand her situation and to make suitable adjustments to their normal treatment process.

The passport can be downloaded from the NHS site
hospital passport template - Google Search 

A similar scenario was described by Jo Whiley on the Andrew Marr show
Jo Whiley: It's been the worst week of our lives as Frances struggles with Covid - BBC News 

We are optimistic that our daughter will be ok to be discharged in the next couple of days.


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## Oldhippy (22 Feb 2021)

I have always found them useful. I took over a service a few years ago and was stunned to see them not completely filled in and one case missing entirely. I think it was the first thing I rewrote with family involvement from the off. I would go mental at my brother's staff if I ever found out of date information. Luckily he has a great team around him.


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## Oldhippy (22 Feb 2021)

Hope she gets sorted soon.


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## Oldhippy (22 Feb 2021)

Really hoping Jo Whiley gets people motivated to take more notice of people with LD and see them as people first, disability second.


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## Sharky (22 Feb 2021)

Oldhippy said:


> Hope she gets sorted soon.



Thanks. 

The issue is that she had to be put her into an induced sleep to do a ct scan. Then when they started to wake her up, she would have pulled all the lines out of her arms. So they kept her sedated and on a ventilater . Then developed pneumonia and other side affects from the medications.

Fingers crossed it could be tomorrow or Wednesday when we attempt it. 

All on the mend, but normally, patients will wake up gradually with all the lines still attached, transfer to a recovery ward before discharge. In daughters case, as soon as she wakes, she will try and pull out all her lines and won't settle for staying in another ward. So lots of BI meetings and when the medical people are happy we will try and get her straight home to recover.


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## Oldhippy (22 Feb 2021)

My brother does exactly that if he is left to his own devices. Tea and cheese are always a good incentive or promise of a pub lunch.


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## Oldhippy (22 Feb 2021)

Hope the staff at the hospital are including family in discussions. We as family can be so underrated when we have known them longest and can be such a huge support.


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## Sharky (22 Feb 2021)

Oldhippy said:


> Hope the staff at the hospital are including family in discussions. We as family can be so underrated when we have known them longest and can be such a huge support.


They are now, but it took from Friday to Monday to get all the right support and adapt their normal process.


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## PaulSB (23 Feb 2021)

Thank you. My son has Downs Syndrome and now has Supported Living in the Community. I'd never heard of a hospital passport. I will be looking in to it.


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## Oldhippy (23 Feb 2021)

They are vital in my opinion. From a medical perspective if someone who cannot speak for themselves should they end up in hospital medical staff can see any underlying conditions before they waste time second guessing what may or may not be important ensuring the right care is given quickly.


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## Teamfixed (23 Feb 2021)

I hope she is ok and back home very soon.


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## Sharky (8 Mar 2021)

An update. Daughter finally came home this afternoon. Over three weeks in intensive care, just to check out a bump/cut to her head and this was left to heal by itself. Two weeks on a ventilator which caused pneumonia and medication which caused impacted bowel. The nurses have been great. Just a shame they didn't understand what they were dealing with when she first came in.

Still home now, but I haven't done many miles last 3 weeks.


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## Teamfixed (8 Mar 2021)

That sounds tough but thankfully sounds like she is well down the road to recovery now. Best wishes


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## Sharky (8 Mar 2021)

Thanks for the well wishes and for the hugs.


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