Hospital NHS staff have done it again....

[mammacaz]

My father in law is Type 1, leaky heart valve etc, etc.,. Had ulcer on big toe, between the nurses at the GP surgery and the GP we had it under control and it was healing fine, they had gone out of their way to make sure that it was comfortable including extra pads on his heel and toe to control the pain.

Thursday 27th Aug has to attend Diabetic Chiropodist in the Hospital, where this patronising b***h commences to critisise the bandaging and extra padding saying it wasn't needed. She puts on a horseshoe shaped pad that doesn't cover the ulcer then bandages up the toe. No extra padding or support for the heel (which is also threatening to break out), then commands him not to touch the dressing until we go back to the see the GP nurse on 1st September.

On Sunday 30th August we had to take him into the hospital to emergency GP where they admitted him as his whole foot had gone red, I am at this time spitting feathers as I know why we had to take him up there, and sure enough the Consultant confirmed it last night.

As a result of an UNSKILLED USELESS PIECE OF WORK calling herself a DIABETIC PODIATRIST putting the bandage on to tightly he has now to have his toe surgically removed.

I have made a complaint and her line manager is going to be contacting me next week, we are not after anything other than an apology and an official warning.

Although I doubt it will do any good. (ever the positive one)!!

 

[saz1]

Oh my gosh,

that's absolutely awful! In my opinion, apology isn't enough but this person should not be practising at all. No wonder people's faith in the health service is faltering after stories like this. Of course many people are happy with their service but you know what they say about one rotten egg and all that... :evil:

 

[mammacaz]

On the whole I do not have a problem with the NHS they have been marvellous and we are very lucky that we have the NHS is this country, but when they are good they are good but when they are bad they are a liability! :roll:

 

[saz1]

Indeed, I fully agree. I am a NHS worker myself and these kind of stories make my skin crawl. I object to overly opinionated personnel who are telling patients off for doing something which is completely safe for medical mangement and comfortable for the patient when their offered alternative contribute to problems like this.

Good luck, hopefully the surgery goes well!

 

[mammacaz]

Thanks hon, I am going up with Hubby this pm to see him as he is obviously very frightened (he lost his brother to similar circumstances) so I will get more info then.

:|

 

[hanadr]

Terrib;e story
I however have seen nothing but excellent ttreatment for my T1 husband from the podiatrists at our hospital. In fact they seem to be the best orgasnised department in the whole place.
the one who injured your father-in-law deserves at the very leat to have something put in the file and to be sent for extra education. Have they tried maggot treatment to restore the toe?

 

[mammacaz]

Still don't know when they will be removing the toe, unfortunately it has gone to far for Maggot treatment he is on intravenous Flucloxacilin it is dripping permanently to try and keep the worst of it at bay until it is removed. They wanted to send him home on Friday and call him in when they have a surgical space, if I didn't know better I would say that they are hoping that things end naturally that way they can save money. Grrrrr!!!! They have been messing him about over the treatment for his heart valve as well, they couldn't organise a preverbial.....

Whereas my mum who is only 4 years younger who also has heart problems they have bent over backwards to help her, even to moving her to another hospital within our area for her treatment rather telling don't you think about their confidence in their own ability to do the job.. :evil:

 

[hanadr]

T1 has had severaal stays in hospital on intravenous antibiotics. Each time he's got well. I would definitely ask about those maggots. they've had excellent results in some hospitals and avoided the need for amputation.

 

[mammacaz]

They are saying he has Osteomylitis (excuse spelling) and it is now eating away on the bone, we managed to save it about 5 years ago using laser but the NHS do not recognise it as a treatment and we do not have access to the same people anymore as they have moved, unfortunately the hospital he is in (well the ward he is on) is a general surgical ward and they seem as if they don't care, anything you suggest they answer "Yeah Yeah whatever" attitude, my teenage daughter is more approachable. They speak to you like you only have one brain cell and god forbid if you come across as having a bit of information. I and my husband would willingly suggest maggots as an option but you may as well stand in the wind (as it were).. This is the same ward that he was on when he had his knee replaced and they couldn't understand why he had a hypo, when we asked when he last had a meal the response was, "He was asleep and we didn't want to disturb him", they make me so mad, and reading some of the posts on here, I think it is about time that the NHS were educated about all types of Diabetes because 80% of nursing staff haven't got a blasted clue.

Sorry to have a rant... :evil:

 

[peecee]

Rant away mammacaz, sounds as if you have a lot to get of your chest Sounds as if your hubby is in an awful hospital, hope things improve for him soon, and keep nagging them, who knows something might finally sink in!
Phill

 

[kegstore]

You carry on with your rant. During my 5 week intravenous incarceration the standard of nursing care was truly shocking: missed antibiotic doses, hypos going unnoticed, more interested in filling forms (but sometimes lying on them) - a complete inability to care for the patients, but I've previously always had excellent care so it was frustrating to see the decline. I routinely kept a daily diary in case it was ever required in a more official capacity.

Maggots can work wonders, effective little blighters, I know a few T1s who've had excellent results with them. They can be tricky with toes though, the difficulty lies in constructing a bandage to keep them contained in the required area! This was the only reason I didn't get them - the infection was between the little and fourth toes. Podiatry were very keen on the idea, but initially very circumspect about suggesting it to me - it was my Dad (ex-GP) who broached the subject eventually.

 

[Patch]

Shocking. I can't believe you're not going to sue them. There is no way I'd let them get away with this.

 

[mammacaz]

Well it looks like the person involved has been reprimanded, her line manager rang me yesterday she had been up to the ward to see the father-in-law and discussed with him his current treatment.

Angiogram to be performed either today or monday to see how much of a blood supply the foot is getting. If blocked then they are talking about not performing any surgery but by treating it with some form of vacuum therapy (no doubt some of you know what that may be).

Asked about Maggots can't do it as there is no infection just damage to the bone and therefore they would not be effective.

But their attitude is very much keep him comfortable.......

 

[Patch]

I don't know how you've managed to stay so calm. He's lucky to have someone like you around!

 

[mammacaz]

Hi guys,

Well Dad in law is now out he came out on Monday and is being looked after by his lady friend. When they did the angio on Friday they decided in for a penny in for a pound and put a stent in to encourage blood supply. He is now back under the care of the GP surgery and I have said NOT to go back to the hospital as I found out another small piece of information Monday night.
I was discussing the problems we had had with a friend of mine who is a senior nurse who trains young student nurses, I have a lot of respect for her and her knowledge so I believe her when she says that Podiatrists (not chiropodists) obtain their exam by doing ONLINE training and exams and the NHS do not recognise that they have any medical training - how about that for information!!!

I was stunned but it all makes sense, that is why the stupid woman didn't know what she was doing and why she thought she was a Goddess!!!

We are now going to play it by ear..

 

[phoenix]

I'm not sure that you can blame the problem on underqualification.
There are podiatry courses online, I sincerely hope that their 'graduates' would be not employed by the NHS in a clinical role. People from non official courses tend to call themselves 'Foot Health Practitioner'.
In order to use both the titles Chiropodist/Podiatrist and practice in the UK you must be registered with The Health Professions Council and normally have followed an accredited course. (when the registers were started some people who had not had the formal training but did have experience were accepted so some people got onto the register this way)

This site shows how to become a registered practioner
http://www.feetforlife.org/careers/training.html

You can check a if a person is registered here:
http://www.hpcheck.org/lisa/onlineregister/MicrositeSearchInitial.jsp
There is also info on the site about making a formal complaint.

 

[Fujifilm]

For many NHS workers its now just a job, we are just statistics and targets. The level of paitent care has gone down over the last 12 years.

Those that do still care about paitents and fortunatley we have quite a few in my area, they are usually exceptional and stand out a mile.

On saying that I recently went to the foot clinic and although there was a lot of elderly peeps waiting I got called straight in despite being 15 mins early for my appointment. Asked why and got told he was "sick of looking at ulcers and moaning old gits" and as mine was only a check up he called me in. :shock:

It makes you wonder.

 

[yipster29]

That's horrible Mammacaz, bad enough to end up needing treatment but to end up so much worse due to negligence.

Standards and knowledge at SOME hospitals really does need bringing to peoples attention :-(

Hope you FIL does continue to improve and they do maybe save the toe

Cath
x