How best to rehabilitate a learning disabled adult who has a broken hip?

[januarybaby]

Does anyone have any advice for my aunt (65) who has been learning disable since birth, she has broke her hip and had a hip replacement and will now look to rehabilitate with physiotherapy etc.

My aunt has the mental capacity of a 7 yo, cannot absorb information, or follow instructions. Has anyone who has a loved one in a similar situation got any advice on strategies or recommendations with how to best adapt to her increased needs while we rehabilitate.

Any more general advice on learning to overcome a broken hip as a learning disabled adult would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Kind regards all.

[Iolo]

Hello. I do not know a lot about hip replacement rehab but I do know your aunt is entitled to the same rehabilitation service as anyone else who has had a hip replacement and the local nhs service that provides that should ideally accommodate her needs under the equality act. However it is often not that simple as clinicians often lack skills or confidence. If you feel that they are not providing this then it may be useful to contact the local learning disability nhs team who should be able to help advise you or help them make the reasonable adjustments by either providing advice to the rehab service and/or co-work her rehab process. I expect that those around her will also need to play a part in term of providing the gentle support to compensate her learning needs as well so it is important they are part of any appointments to ask for guidance from professionals. I hope that goes some way to being helpful.

[Head_cook]

She should be discharged with a support package ie; physiotherapist , occupational therapist visits her home to see what adaptations are needed. Speak to the sister of the ward to see what’s in place. Or if she already discharged speak to GP. OT’s usually attend very quickly.

[horniwink]

We supported someone with a LD who also broke their hip and had a replacement. They too struggled to follow instructions from the physiotherapists and were reluctant to walk on it. Consequently there was a delayed discharge from hospital and people were concerned how to progress their recovery. After a best interests meeting it was decided to take the risk and discharge the person home with community physio input. This was the best decision ever as after they were home in their familiar environment they got back into their usual routine and recovery was very rapid. The community physio visited a few times but was not really needed.