Forest Hospital Case Study 1

A female patient was admitted to us from a PICU who had a diagnosis of Korsakoff’s from heavy drinking over a prolonged number of years.  This lady was highly intelligent previously holding down a number of high profile jobs.  Things took a turn when she split from her husband and she ended up in a PICU.  She came to Forest hospital on high observation levels with a number of staff and was extremely aggressive, angry and confrontational wanting to go home.  At times this lady struggled to remember why she was in hospital and the support she required. 

When the lady was first admitted she was violent, angry and thought ‘the world was against me’.  Staff took time to get to know the lady, they supported her when she was angry and eventually she started to gain a therapeutic relationship with the staff and ‘felt safe’.  She would talk about her anger at home and how it made herself and her children feel.  She acknowledged she needed support and started working with the staff.  The ladies medication was changed and she started to feel well, she started running again with staff support, going out for meals and doing what she called ‘normal activities’ that had been taken away from her in a PICU which made her angry.  She described to the staff that she felt like a caged animal and didn’t think she would ever get any freedom again.

After a year or so she started a new relationship with her family, which took time and lots of support from staff to both the patient and the family and this was positive.  The MDT then had to look at a transfer to a new unit.  When this was discussed with the patient she was devastated as she was worried that she would end up going backwards.  We tried one service which only lasted a number of hours before she was aggressive and had to come back for more support and guidance. 

The staff then worked hard finding a suitable placement again and we had a 3 month transition plan. Both the MDT and the patient talked in depth about what the right support was needed and how we could ensure it was robust enough and that there were contingency plans in place. Staff would go with the patient for day trips to the service, they would stay overnight in the new service and would willingly do whatever was required to ensure the patient gained a therapeutic relationship with a new team. 

The lady is now in a community placement and is flourishing.  She continues to speak to the staff periodically to tell them how well she is doing and both the patient and her family are amazed at how far she has progressed and were very tearful with the staff and the MDT and could not thank them enough for all the care and support that has been given to the lady to ensure the second placement worked.

Mum and Dad stated ‘I cannot thank Forest Hospital enough it feels like for the first time in years we have our daughter back’.

The patient stated ‘I loved Forest Hospital the way they supported me through good times and bad times and regardless at what I threw at them they still came back and cared for me.  I didn’t think I would ever feel this well again, I cannot thank you enough’.