Hospital at home

I had breast cancer in 1994 and after treatment am now all right and on annual check ups. My sister has just had a lumpectomy and the lymph glands from under her arm removed.

She spent two days in hospital and was then sent home with her drainage bag with instructions how to empty the bag. District nurse would check her at home in three days time.

The district nurse whizzed in and out in five minutes. removed the drainage bag and left a pile of dressings for her to dress the wound herself.

As the wound is under the arm (and her arm is still stiff from surgery) this is rather difficult. The only solution is to ask her house mate or boyfriend to assist! Also the nurse left no plastic gloves which help keeping this wound sterile.

The district nurse says she will see her in the nurses clinic next week. Apparently this system is called hospital at home. I understand there is pressure on beds and of course the longer you are in hospital the more chance you have of contacting MRSA but it does seem rather casual.

Has anybody else come across this system? It does seem like NHS on the cheap!

hi fredanelly
i was in hospital for 15 days because my drain bags were still fillingup and the hospital i had treatment in dont sent u home with drains in.GLASGOW ROYAL and i could not fault any part of my care and aftercare.
maria

I was sent home a couple of days after my surgery with drains still attached and told how to change them myself. I did have some problems with them blocking and had to go back to the hospital a couple of times. I had a chart on which to record on a daily basis how much fluid was draining.

We don’t seem to have a district nurse service for cases like ours here in the south east.

xxx

I came out of Hospital on Friday last, I had my surgery on the Wednesday ( Wide Local Exsion and clearance) and the drain removed Thursday morning as nothing was coming away.

I was discharged without any dressings or information apart from a leaflet about the Acute Care Team who have been in everyday since.

THey couldn’t believe I had not been given anything, but I have to say they have been great.