Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-27 Person 5 5 0

Excellent timing and regular visits. Staff know my needs and fulfil them.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-26 Person 5 5 0

I find this part always hard to start but when I get going it seems to just flow along , Firstly my name is Malcolm Davies and I am 64 years old, and all in all I am quite a happy little bunny still doing a full time job able to get about ok plus I live in a lovely part of oxford in a super little bungalow and I have a great circle of friends so you generally get the picture of what I am like. Now as I have got older I have encountered quite a few health issue's but nothing to serious and somehow I have always been able to deal with them now going back some time ago' in the 1980s as I recall I started with a small venous ulcer on the inside of my right leg down by the ankle. Now the thing is at the time you don't think of this as a problem and you just do what you have to do to clear it up and move on with your life also with being so young it heals fairly quickly as well so no problems there you think but the trouble is these little blighters just don't give up ok they might be alright for a period of time weeks months even years as in my case, but trust me they do have this nasty habit of coming back and I also found out that as you get older there more and more difficult to deal with. Now this leads me nicely on to the last 15 months or so as this venous ulcer came back to haunt me yet again when it first appeared I quickly took myself of to the nurses at my local clinic who immediately put it in to the compression bandaging that usually clears it up after a period of time. After the first week I went back and they took the compression bandaging of to redress the leg when I glanced down at the ankle there was this roughly 3in crater wound this was something I have never seen before with my wound and I must admit I was a little scared of what I was looking at but I thought ok try not to worry about it lets get the dressing back on and see where we go from there. Now I am not going to drone on as regards to what happened next as it would take for ever and a day but roughly 12 months down the line there was no improvement or very little now fair play to the nurses they tried everything from different types of dressings to manuka honey pads ect you name it they tried it god I reckon we even tried apricot jam as well somewhere along the line (only joking there) but I think you can see the predicament I was in everything was in turmoil my whole life for a year was run around going to the clinic 2 times a week to have this leg dressed it was beginning to be a nightmare I can tell you and the pain was sometimes unbearable the amount of tablets I was taking was becoming a problem as well. Now it was at this point that fate intervened whilst talking to my sister who lives in Yorkshire one evening on the phone and she being a fully trained nurse for some 30 plus years I just happened to mention my problem with this ulcer and she suggested I tried to get old of someone from the tissue viability team at my local hospital so after our conversation this I did I went on to the internet and sent the tissue viability team a direct e mail I must admit I didn't hold out much hope of a reply but low and behold the next day there in my inbox was a reply from the team leader sympathising with my plight and also telling me she would pass my details on to someone to get in touch with me and see what they could do to help. Again the following day I had a lovely e mail from Sarah Gardner tissue viability lead from Abingdon hospital after having a natter with Sarah she agreed to come out to the clinic and take a look at the ulcer and give advice on which way to go to get it healed again we met for the first time about a couple of weeks after and we had a natter about me what medication I was on ect. She then got down to work I must admit the first part was very painful but she explained everything she was doing to me as she went along and why she was doing it she spent a good hour with me that day that I am sure off maybe more but the thing is I could see by just looking at Sarah that this was someone who knew exactly what she was doing. Again I am not going to drone on as to what happened whenever I saw Sarah over the next 3 months but what she did as regards to my ulcerated leg beggars belief from this gaping wound to fully healed I was mightily impressed I think when she first saw the wound I got the impression deep down she knew she could sort it out. Also there were one or two problems with the first appointments struggling to get rooms ect for a prolonged period of time but again this didn't phase her one bit she was absolutely brilliant I found Sarah to be a very kind and caring person and a credit to her profession and a true professional in everything she did including the way she went about doing her work. What I can also say is after about two and a half months to three months the ulcer is now fully healed and I feel I have my life back on track and its pain free. There is one other thing as well I now know if this happens again to me the tissue viability team are only a e mail or phone call away which is very reassuring While Sarah was on holiday I also met one of the other team members as well Penny who dressed my leg whilst at the hospital in Abingdon and she also came across as being very much like Sarah. What I am going to say next is quite easy for me as I have been there if you are in the same position as I was in then a friendly piece of advice get yourself of to your doctors and tell them you would like to be seen by someone from tissue viability I can guarantee it will be the best thing you have ever done and who knows you just might end up meeting Sarah like I did or one of her team It will be worth it trust me. many thanks, Malcolm.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-26 Person 5 5 0

Wonderful nurses. Thank you for doing all you do for me. You are all so kind and helpful.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 5 5 0

I have no comment

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 0 5 0

If works when and comfort care. The people are kind.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 0 5 0

They were kind.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 0 5 0

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 0 5 0

I don't know.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 0 5 0

They were very clear in what was happening and the staff were very nice.

Community Services - Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 2016-07-23 Person 0 5 0

Take less time and do better stay.