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District Nurses from Stranraer Medical Centre

Posted By SWM123

"District Nurses from Stranraer Medical Centre"

About: Dumfries & Galloway Community Services / District Nursing

(as a relative),

I am disgusted by the lack of care and help given to my elderly parents.

District Nurses failures caused an ulcer to develop on my Mum's heel 9 months ago.

Now they refuse to give any wound management help at all. Despite assurances from NHS-24 that someone will attend ,Got a phonecall today that no one will attend now "patients are responsible for their own wound management " What about duty of care ??  NHS 24 doctor also promised CIC wound management team would attend, but her GP refused to co- operate. District Nurses also say untrue things, saying my Mum won't take painkillers. She can't take the very strong ones as they make her ill.

Then they falsely say she is happy with her care, claiming she signed a form.  So where is it ?

District Nurses claim they will only attend the dead and dying Really ? 

They also refused to give my Dad eyedrops after surgery, despite instructions from the surgeon. They even refused to co operate with the local Social Care Dept. that tried to organise help. My Dad is now blind. My mum tried to give the eyedrops, but it was too much, as she has arthritis in her hands, spinal injury and osteoporosis and painful foot ulcer (caused by them ). She ended up having a bad fall. An Xray revealed deep soft tissue damage. Luckily nothing broken or fractured. A District Nurse claimed she had shown my mum what to do and she managed easily . Untrue and disgraceful! 

Not all the District Nurses are bad, but I have seen too little of the good ones.

It's not just my parents suffering bad or no care, from what I have seen, especially among the elderly. They don't always have someone to speak up for them. 

In my opinion, it seems like certain District Nurses are using COVID as a reason to withdraw virtually all care from the most vulnerable. And in my experience, they only get help when it's an emergency, get admitted to hospital , and risk contracting COVID .

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Responses

Response from Donna Boyce, Nurse Manager - Wigtownshire, Community Health and Social Care, NHS Dumfries and Galloway 3 years ago
Donna Boyce
Nurse Manager - Wigtownshire, Community Health and Social Care,
NHS Dumfries and Galloway

My role is Nurse Manager and as part of my role I oversee Newton Stewart Hospital

Submitted on 12/02/2021 at 12:43
Published on Care Opinion at 14:13

Dear SWM123

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. I am sorry to hear about your concerns regarding the care and treatment provided to your parents. Whilst I can't comment on the specifics of their care in this public forum, or without their personal details, I would like to try and address some of your points more generally.

Patients should always be offered support with wound management if they require it and that support can be delivered in a number of ways. The decision as to how to offer that support will be dependent on the clinical needs of the individual patient. In order to determine the level of need an assessment would take place, and that should be offered to every patient that requires wound management support. Following that assessment there may be cases where patients are asked to undertake their own wound management. This may happen where the assessment has determined that the wound can safely be managed by the patient and does not require a registered nurse or healthcare support worker to deliver the treatment. In cases where patients are asked to manage their own wounds, we will ensure that they have the information needed to help them deliver their own care. This includes providing information about when to contact the nursing service for additional support and advice, for example if they are concerned about infection or changes to the wound. The patient may then be asked to attend a treatment room or if they are housebound, a home visit may be arranged.

Whilst there have been a number of restrictions in place for services during the pandemic, the above has remained the same and no patient should be denied support with wound management. I feel it is important to make absolutely clear that home visits are not restricted to the 'dead and dying'. NHS staff have continued to attend to patients in their homes throughout the pandemic where there has been the need to do so.

I am sorry that you feel your parents' care has not been up to the standard you would expect. I hope that the above is helpful and offers some reassurance that care is available to them. As above, I am unable to address the other points raised as they relate to specific episodes of care. I would however welcome your parents to contact us, if they haven't already, in order that we can discuss their concerns and ensure they are receiving the support they need. You are also welcome to contact us on their behalf. If you do so, please be aware that we may need to seek their consent to discuss their care with you.

Feedback can be provided via our Patient Services team who can be reached at dg.patientservices@nhs.scot or on 01387 272733. Further details on providing feedback can also be found at https://www.nhsdg.co.uk/how-did-we-do/.

Thank you once again for taking the time to share your story.

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