To Complain or Not To Complain?

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)

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.

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

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.

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.

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.