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Care Opinion

Care given to personal hygiene

Posted By Bootley

"Care given to personal hygiene"

About: Lincoln County Hospital / Gynaecology

(as the patient),

I received very good nursing care whilst I was in hospital. The care given to my personal hygiene was more or less none existent. I spent 2 nights in ICU, and on the day I was moved back to the gynaecological ward, after being on the ward a couple of hours I was offered a bed bath by a very thoughtful elderly nurse. This lady took care to wash my wound area which obviously could not be bandaged.

The following day I was offered the choice of a bed bath or a wash in the bathroom. I agreed to needing the help of the young nurse with this task as it was my first time out of bed. The help turned out to be nothing more than walking alongside me to the bathroom, placing a chair in front of the wash basin in the patients toilet, and told to shout if I needed help! I have to add that at this point I was feeling very weak.

At no time for the following two days in hospital was my wound area cleansed!

Where is the prevention of infection getting into my wound? Even on a less serious level, I would have thought help in keeping my body clean when feeling do weak was just a basic need.

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Responses

Response from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 6 years ago
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 07/08/2017 at 10:40
Published on Care Opinion at 11:10

Dear Bootley

Thank you for taking time to tell us about your experience.

Concerning your wound not being cleansed, we have a trust protocol in place for wound care and post -op wounds are usually not opened for dressings until 5 days post-op. The exceptions to this rule are bleeding from the op-site or suspected wound infection. Post – op wounds are usually opened on the 5th day post-op at home or by the GP practice nurse when stitches are to be removed on day 5 or 7.

I am sorry that this was not communicated to you better at your pre assessment appointment as this information is within the information leaflet you would have received and we did not fully explain about your wound care.

In relation to your request for help for washing, without your details I am unable to identify the young nurse to be able to address your concerns with them. We do normally give assisted washing on day 1 post-op as majority of our patients are happy to wash themselves. On 2nd day post-op we actively encourage our patients to wash alone if they are independent and mobilising.

We do help any patients requiring our support or assistance with activities of daily living regardless of the procedure or medical condition and I am sorry that this was not the case while you were on the ward.

To assist me with this investigation, it would be appreciated if you can provide your details via PALS either by phone 01522 707072 or pals@ulh.nhs.uk so that it can be addressed appropriately. If you could please quote 38218 as this will assist us to locate your concerns.

Regards

Sister D Adewuyi

Ward Sister, Branston Ward

Update posted by Bootley (the patient)

Thank you for your response. My wound did not have a dressing on as it was in my vagina. As I felt so unsteady on my legs I had to sit down in front of the basin to wash, so could not wash my own private parts. As I had spent two nights in ICU this was not the first day following my operation, and as I had needed a second operation requiring an abdominal cut I assume I was not offered a shower because of the dressing across my abdomen.

Do you really consider help with washing as being taken to a toilet room with a basin and having a chair positioned in front of the basin then left? I think staff need to be made aware that it is quite disconcerting to be plonked in front of a wash basin of the first day out of bed and left to get on with it when feeling quite weak. I again want to stress that all the staff were extremely pleasant.

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