AIBU - Is it fair for me to live like this?

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LizH13 I would expect because they only know about their own little bit.

This happened to my mother-in-law with physio and would dressing!

I was wondering about you. So pleased you are finally on the right track. Long may it continue!

How are things now? ferry23

I’m pleased and relieved for you in equal parts ferry if disappointed you weren’t made aware of the right service so much earlier on. Sleep well tonight.

That sounds excellent and you sound like a very much happier Ferry than in your original post. For what it's worth I think the nurse is right about drawing a line under how it's been, but from your latest post, I'm guessing it will be a dotted one!
Hoping everything goes to plan and that your leg continues to heal well. Onwards and upwards to matching shoes now! 👠👠

Great news Ferry, I’m so pleased to hear that you are getting proper treatment at last and that you have confidence in the wound clinic nurse you saw. I agree that you should draw a line under the past eight months, for the time being, concentrate on getting better and feeling better, and then think about what steps you want to take. Give yourself time, it’s been so hard for you. Take care xx

I agree Ferry that you should draw a line if possible. This nurse sounds very professional. Dwelling on the past won't help at present.
However,in the future , you have a lot of information on these pages to allow you to state clearly what has happened....and you should, for your own sake, and others.
Hope you continue, onwards and upwards.

I’ve been quietly following this thread and I’m so glad to read today that things seem to be moving forward and you are in a better place. You have had great support from GN which really is what it should be all about, I could offer no advice just horror at your treatment.
One thing that does strike me though is if the surgery couldn’t refer you why did they not give you the information to self refer as that would have seemed to have been possible. Surely they should be able to signposts to other clinics and agencies.
Good luck going forward Ferry23

So glad you are in a better place now! Xxi

I’m so pleased to learn that you finally seem to be on the right path. Ferry. What an ordeal this has been for you.

Why the NHS has to be so labyrinthine, I do not know. It is so hard to negotiate when you’re already feeling unwell and not at your best.

Phew ferry that does sound more constructive and supportive, about time to.

Such very good news ferry. A pity about the lack of communication between each of the NHS surgeries & clinics. The pain and distress you have suffered could have been avoided. Wishing you well. 💐

Luckygirl3

I am pleased to hear that you are now being treated properly by people in whom you have confidence.

The surgery doesn't have access to the wound clinic - this worries me. If it is an NHS service it should be accessible to all. You should not have to find out about it by some random circuitous route.

It's apparently because it comes under community care so referral is via the District - aka Community - Nurse.

From the website -

How to access the service

Your community nurse will need to refer you.

I'm glad you are being taken seriously at last, ferry23 and that you are now being cared for by medical professionals who seem to know what they're doing.

There seems to be gaps in healthcare today if the GP cannot refer you to the Wound Clinic. I must admit a Wound Clinic is something I hadn't heard of, but I had to self-refer to Physiotherapy, the GP didn't do this, neither they nor the hospital wanted to see me after a fracture was diagnosed after an X-ray. No crutches, stick or any advice!

The Gucci shoe sounds like the ultra-fashion one I had after an operation. 😀

What good news, ferry !

I am pleased to hear that you are now being treated properly by people in whom you have confidence.

The surgery doesn't have access to the wound clinic - this worries me. If it is an NHS service it should be accessible to all. You should not have to find out about it by some random circuitous route.

I started to read your thread with trepidation, but at last you are on the correct track.

At least you won't have to pay for expensive mini cab fares.

You are not there yet but the door is open at the end of the tunnel. The chink of light is a full light.

We now need a solicitor on GN to help in the near future!

It's good to hear much better news, ferry. Onwards and upwards. 💐

CariadAgain

"...draw a line under the last 8 months"......hmmmmm....

I'm interpreting that as they're panicking a bit and wondering a bit whether you are going to put in an official complaint.......and trying to head you off the pass.

The memo has gone out I guess .....of "Quick.....act nice to her.....try and get her to draw a veil over the last 8 months...".

Well- I guess at least they are taking you seriously finally by the look of it.......because they are starting to get a bit scared....

Quite the opposite actually.

She made a point of trying to differentiate between the purely medical side of things and then the whole debacle of the last 8 months.

It appeared to me that she felt I would be fully justified in taking things further. Obviously she wasn't going to outwardly bad mouth my surgery but she made a good job of allowing me to read between the lines.

"...draw a line under the last 8 months"......hmmmmm....

I'm interpreting that as they're panicking a bit and wondering a bit whether you are going to put in an official complaint.......and trying to head you off the pass.

The memo has gone out I guess .....of "Quick.....act nice to her.....try and get her to draw a veil over the last 8 months...".

Well- I guess at least they are taking you seriously finally by the look of it.......because they are starting to get a bit scared....

[ferry23] very positive news

I’m so pleased to read your update this morning ferry. That all sounds very encouraging. You’ve had a hellish few months and I sincerely hope the only way is up from this week. Wishing you all the best.

Hi everyone (well, those who haven't got too bored with my leg blog!)

The appointment at the wound clinic went very well.

There are 4 specialist nurses there and whichever one I see will follow the same treatment plan - which was agreed upon by the nurse and me after much discussion. So that's one box ticked.

After listening to my sorry story, the nurse said that what she was hearing is that I was disappointed, frustrated and felt that I'd been let down. Another box ticked.

She said that from now, for the purposes of getting my leg healed, I draw a line under the past 8 months and treat this as a new start - purely from a mental health point of view. She said that the clinic and I are now partners and we will work together to get the best outcome for me.

The wound is shallow, healing and clean. It is the shallowness of the wound that's has been causing so much pain (I won 't go into medical details!). She offered me alternative medications to the morphine but as it's been a lot easier in the past few days I decided to try and keep off heavy duty pain relief if I can. She was surprised I was on antibiotics as she said there's no sign of infection - but in fairness to my surgery, they did take a swab and only prescribed them as a result. I must assume that the antibiotics plus the trimovate cream has zapped any infection.

She has used compression bandages - goodness knows how many layers - but they're not overly tight which is good. She also supplied me with what she called her "Gucci Special" shoe which I could get over the bandaging in order to get home. An uglier contraption I cannot imagine but serves its purpose.

So once a week there until they're happy to discharge me.

It seems there's a disconnect between services run under the NHS and those run under the CCG. The surgery doesn't have access to the wound clinic and it was only because of the excellent district nurse who first came two weekends back that I got the successful referral. It seems she fought very hard for me to be accepted there and I shall be eternally grateful. Whilst I understand the surgery couldn't refer me, I wish they'd encouraged me to self refer, it may have saved me a lot of distress and themselves a lot of appointments!

The thought of not having to get to the surgery every day or almost every day has made me feel better regardless of any medical improvement.

I was encouraged by the knowledge and attitude of the nurse, and the clinic seems to have lived up to it's very good reputation. I'm trying to be muted in my optimism as I've been let down so much since last December but I really do feel that a corner has been turned.

I will post updates as and when there's something significant to say. Thank you all - I can't say that enough times. When I first posted I was in quite a scary place and you all dragged me out of it and made me feel I was not in this alone. You're all stars!

Once I get to thinking about how I'm going to handle the debacle of the last 8 months I shall start a new thread for your input

Just popping in, slightly concerned that ferry hasn’t posted.