To Complain or Not To Complain?

See my GP face to face and if possible show him/her the photos and say how miserable you have been and how very long this has been going on.
I wouldn’t put in an official complaint.

I think Oreo is right. Your GP is responsible for the clinical staff and their standards of care and expertise. Is the wound clinic at the hospital or the surgery. I would ask if there is a specialist clinic you can attend. As a manager in the NHS I advised that the 'squeaky wheel gets the oil'. I also established a specialist Tissue Viability Team its might be worth doing a search for one. Not necessarily complain but explain how awful the whole experience has been for you. Good Luck and I hope you get some healing soon.

Samsara1

I think Oreo is right. Your GP is responsible for the clinical staff and their standards of care and expertise. Is the wound clinic at the hospital or the surgery. I would ask if there is a specialist clinic you can attend. As a manager in the NHS I advised that the 'squeaky wheel gets the oil'. I also established a specialist Tissue Viability Team its might be worth doing a search for one. Not necessarily complain but explain how awful the whole experience has been for you. Good Luck and I hope you get some healing soon.

Thank you.

We don't have a Tissue Viability Team here unfortunately. I have been attending the Wound Clinic at the hospital since September of last year. It was a struggle to get there however, as my my GP surgery insisted they weren't able to refer either to the Wound Clinic or to the DN team as I was able to get a taxi into the surgery which means I wasn't "housebound". Even though at one point I had to go every day for two weeks which cost me over £200.

It was my own research and tenacity that got me referred to the Dustrict Nurses team and they referred me to the Wound Clinic.

Unless it's a very small hospital I'd be surprised if there isn't a tissue viability team.

I remember the agonies you went through, Ferry, and was truly shocked at the time. I’m sorry you still have ongoing problems.

I think when making complaints, your starting point has to be pretty much as you say, asking What is my aim here? It could be a variety of reasons such as letting off steam, financial recompense, wishing to see someone brought to book, a desire to stop this ever happening again or simply an apology. I’m sure there are others. Also consider how you would feel in the future if you don’t make a complaint.

My son works in patient safety and complaints are in fact an important aspect of ensuring our services are as safe as possible. There’s a lot of science behind it, in which the patient’s experience is very important.

Only you know your GP practice, though, and what their reaction might be, even though afaik, they’re not allowed to take punitive action against you.

valdali

Unless it's a very small hospital I'd be surprised if there isn't a tissue viability team.

I wonder why, then, both the Practice Nurses and District Nurse have told me we don't have a TV nurse here.
I shall ask again. (Yes, it is effectively an old cottage hospital with some Community services operating out of it)

SueDonim

I remember the agonies you went through, Ferry, and was truly shocked at the time. I’m sorry you still have ongoing problems.

I think when making complaints, your starting point has to be pretty much as you say, asking What is my aim here? It could be a variety of reasons such as letting off steam, financial recompense, wishing to see someone brought to book, a desire to stop this ever happening again or simply an apology. I’m sure there are others. Also consider how you would feel in the future if you don’t make a complaint.

My son works in patient safety and complaints are in fact an important aspect of ensuring our services are as safe as possible. There’s a lot of science behind it, in which the patient’s experience is very important.

Only you know your GP practice, though, and what their reaction might be, even though afaik, they’re not allowed to take punitive action against you.

Quite, because I'm not really sure what I expect. It's not going to make me better, and it won't give me back almost 20 months of my life or restore my mobility which is so poor due to prolonged inactivity.

Ensuring others don't have to go through this is paramount I think. I do have a good relationship with the surgery and although there certainly were mistakes made, I always felt they were working in my best interest. Apart from one mistake which could and should have been avoided, a lot of medical treatments are so specific to the patient that I suspect they were only taking a generally prescribed route which in my case, didn't work and from there on there were definitely elements of trial and error.

Thanks for clarifying my own thoughts (!) and for explaining about the handling of complaints. I shall give it some more thought.

ferry I have been treated similarly with the same complaint. I was refused DN care because I am semi mobile. With my background I was able to do my own dressings but being partially sighted, I couldn't see what I was treating.

The DNs told me I wasn't trained to apply compression bandages. Wrong, I was doing it before some were born and mine stay in situ without trailing behind me 2 days later.

My GP surgery has a Dressings Nurse who has no dressings! Work that one out. We are supposed to take the equipment to the surgery. I declined.

Because of my eyesight problems the DNs decided to dress my legs x2 a week. I was in my local town one day, looked down and my dressing was on the ground. Today I woke up and one dressing was on the bedroom floor.

I wouldn't make a formal complaint but speak with your named doctor telling him or her your frustrations. It is a nightmare.

Sue Donim (nice pun) makes some excellent points. Ferry I am so sorry for what you are having to endure.
Two years ago, I went through weeks with an intractable open wound after three mistakes were made by clinicians in connection with bowel cancer. The stay in hospital was also traumatic and I now think I should have complained.
I could tell that the surgeon and others were heartily relieved that I made a good recovery eventually. The thing is, like most of us war babies, I was brought up to put up and shut up. And I just wanted to put it behind me.

I don’t know if I would complain tbh. Friend has complained about something her surgery has missed (quite serious). They have now said they are unfortunately out of the catchment area (don’t know the right terminology), although they have been with the practice for donkeys years.

ferry23

As some of you will know or remember, I've been battling with what was originally a cut to my leg, which then became infected, is now a venous ulcer and has also developed into lymphoedema for over 19 months now.

It has truly been a whole tale of woe from start to finish - except of course it isn't finished.

Today, I went through all the photos I have taken of my leg over the months. It's like a scene from a horror film. Infected dressings falling out of the bottom of bandages and resting on my foot. Bandages unravelling and trailing behind me. Foot swollen and turning blue when the bandaging was too tight. Skin bleeding in the crease of the front of my foot and the ankle due to compacted wadding rubbing into my ankle for a week. Huge red welts on my leg where a wrong size compression stocking dug into the top of my leg. And more.

I've also been prescribed 7 lots of antibiotics in 14 months.

(This is summarising)

I was going through the photos with my cousin this afternoon and she said I really should be putting in an official complaint.

That's what a lot of people have said, but yes, I can complain about some of the treatment from my surgery, and possibly some of the treatment at the Wound Clinic.

But I can't actually see what it is that I will achieve. They won't be paying me out massive amounts of money so I can cruise around the world first class. They will tell me they have noted my comments, spoken to the staff and "lessons have been learnt". And I will probably get a black mark at my surgery.

What would you do?

In my experience you will get nothing but platitudes. In my case of serious misdiagnosis resulting in a very near death experience it will take 3 years and counting and a complaint to the ombudsman in my case which is still ongoing. So probably not worth the stress . Xx

Charliegirl if the bandages aren't put on well enough to stay in place maybe they need to use 'yellow line' to keep them in place.

I think it would be a hollow experience to complain.
Likely an apology, and an "we accept that we could have done better".

Considering the toll some of these practices take on a person, I wouldn't really want to put myself through it.

Ferry, I could be wrong of course but I wonder if this is an itch you need to scratch, one way or another? Maybe you just want to feel heard, because going through such a traumatic time when others are failing to see the problem must be hugely soul-destroying.

Do you think having a ‘debrief’ with someone knowledgable from your practice would help? You could say your piece and they could maybe learn from it. My DD has had some difficulties with her DD’s schooling this past year. It all came to a head towards the end of term and an appointment was granted. Dd wrote a letter beforehand to the staff, explaining what they as parents were unhappy about and what they felt should be happening instead in order for their dd to thrive (my dd isn’t a teacher but her work involves education).

She said that laying out their thoughts before the meeting proved to be a good move. It clarified their own thoughts, gave staff time to ponder on matters and it took a lot of the emotion out of the meeting so no one got upset. To her astonishment, the school admitted they had taken their eye off the ball with her dd and she was being failed. They had a calm talk (90 minutes!) about what needed to be remedied and how to go about achieving that and ensuring her dd reached her potential. My dd came away feeling that she’d been listened to, taken seriously and that there was now a plan in place.

Obviously, it’s a different setting for you, but it could be cathartic to be able to debrief and talk over what happened, let them respond, and then maybe put it all to bed.

Take care and I hope your leg improves soon. X

ferry23

valdali

Unless it's a very small hospital I'd be surprised if there isn't a tissue viability team.

I wonder why, then, both the Practice Nurses and District Nurse have told me we don't have a TV nurse here.
I shall ask again. (Yes, it is effectively an old cottage hospital with some Community services operating out of it)

Always worth asking, that is a small hospital but sometimes they have outreach teams from the Hospital Trust that it's associated with, who can come out & give advice to the local teams for a few patients.Not sure if TVN do this but worth asking.

There's no tissue viability clinic at the hospital I go to, and while I'm not sure how to measure it, it seems a big place with lots of areas covered.
Likewise, no district nurse services who come out and treat people at home.
If you can hobble, or bundle someone into a taxi you're considered mobile and able to make your own way.

Cressida I refuse to have yellow line applied because with the thick bandaging it means I can't get shoes or slippers on. One male DN asked me why I had to go out. He genuinely thought I should stay indoors for months. Unbelievable.

I need to get my slip-on slippers on properly or I will fall. I said to one male GN I would sue if that happened. His work was finished so he walked out, tight-lipped. I am hopeful both legs will have healed within 6-8 weeks.

As ferry is aware, it is a nightmare

I would make an appointment with your doctor to talk about it. You have a right to complain.

Thanks everyone for all your wise words.

It's not straightforward as half of my treatment has been at the surgery and half at the wound clinic which would mean two different complaint routes.

And what I shouldn't ignore is that a lot of the treatment has been as it should, and most of the clinicians along the way have been kind and caring.

My heart says I should as I'm a stickler for fairness and justice and I don't think it's fair that not all the treatment has been acceptable and I feel someone should be held accountable. And maybe someone might think twice about the way they treat patients in the future.
My head though says don't do it. It's two different avenues of procedures, one for the surgery, one for the clinic. I can't guarantee that the feeling of unfairness and unaccountability will be satisfied and that really is the only thing I can gain out of complaining.

SueDonim - yes maybe it is an itch that needs scratching.

I'm going to sit tight for the time being, - this whole situation has worn me down a bit and I don't think I have the fight or tenacity in me that I had beforehand. I think I might just be poking the bear in me a bit too hard if I embark upon what will probably be a lengthy and often frustrating complaints procedure x 2 which will leave me feeling more despondent and worn out than I do now.

I have only been with this surgery for a year and I decided not to complain. Many months ago I went with the same complaint. One GP looked at it, said she had no dressings. Discharged me and sent me out with my leg oozing lymph. I had to walk home in that state and dress it here.

I decided not to say anything but eventually got on the District Nurse list for home visits x2 a week. At least my legs are now getting better, although sterility is a foreign word, so I am concentrating on cleanliness and failing.

I will not be complaining there either as I may need their services if I am ever bed bound. Luckily with my background, with the correct tools, I can look after myself.

This is a much bigger problem than poor service from a single surgery or health trust. Lack of Care of ulcers seems to be a grey area nationally.

As ferry23 knows I had awful problems with practice nurses making my leg much worse. I started with a wound on the front of my leg which with their 'care' ended up right round my leg and got infected with Pseudomonas.

Some nurses seem unaware that lymph fluid can burn the surrounding skin so fail to use barrier cream around the wound.

Not all GP wound clinics are bad. My late husband had open wound cellulitis in both legs during 2020 (Covid-19) our Practice Nurses were fabulous at his dressings which they were doing several times a week. I think you should make them all aware of how badly you feel about the things that went wrong even if its just to get an apology and hopefully it not happening again to you or anyone else.

ferry, catching up here and felt relieved by your latest thoughts about costs n benefits of complaining. Maybe a chat when next with your GP. Formal complaints can grow a life of their own. I hope things improve. Long term health issues in older life are debilitating

I agree with Cressida that yellow line tubing would probably solve the problem of trailing dressings. The district nurses used a cream called something like viscopaste which I believe is expensive but it it worked for my cellulitis and ulcers together with antibiotics, the compression was uncomfortable but now I have compression socks up to the knee. I hope you can resolve this. it was a difficult time for me too and I'm still not very mobile