Following last nights issue with my feed, today I've been on the phone trying to sort it out. First call was to St Marks where I spoke to the senior nutrition nurse. She was outraged by what had happened and informed me that there is a national contract to provide 24 hour nursing support to TPN patients. So last night raised a few issues: one, if that specific contract has changed then that goes against the national guidelines. And two, if the contract hasn't changed then the care that I received last night was disgraceful. So either way not too good.
The nurse from St Marks promised that she would call my provider and register a complaint whilst also trying to resolve the issue of me having missed a feed. Her opinion was that there was a fault with the pump itself because the steps I had taken to resolve the alarming last night should have fixed it. As it didn't the issue obviously lay with the pump and part of the national contract also states that if a pump is faulty a new one should be delivered within 4 hours so long as you are on mainland UK.
I hadn't realised that it might be the pump that was faulty but a qualified nurse should have. Therefore if I had spoken to one last night I would have had a new pump couriered to me by 3am, I could have hooked up and not been completely dehydrated today.
The second call was to my provider and what should have been a simple call to request a new pump turned into a nightmare half hour. When you ring them they're like most companies- press 1 for this, 2 for that, 3 to listen to music that makes you want to slit your wrists...
So I pressed 2 (which was the right one for my requirements) and after quite a while on hold found myself speaking to someone who worked for them at the Yorkshire branch. According to one of the rudest women I have spoken to for a long time I have ring the wrong number. I try to explain my issue and she curtly offers to transfer my call to someone who could help me. I explained in real basic terms what was wrong and the resolution required ie: I have TPN feed via a Hickman line as my bowel doesn't work and the pump that pumps the feed into the line is not working. I need a new one sent out to me today.
So are you from the transplant team? she asks. No I reply.
Are you from the diabetes team? she asks. No, I have TPN I tell her again.
This went on for another 3 or 4 questions while she went down her telephone extension list and tried to work out who to pass me onto. Eventually she says she knows who to put me through to and it rings for a few rings and then I find myself back to the main menu again!!! Aarrgghh! So I decide to press number 4 which is for all other queries (I know, whoa there! steady on! Number 4, I'm living life on the edge!)
It rings for a while but then is answered by another lady who after taking all my details then tells me that again I've rang the wrong number. When I point out that I just rang the telephone number and pressed 4 for all other queries she started banging on about them diverting the overflow calls to her branch and that she was fed up of it and that she had had enough. By this point I've been on the phone for about 20 minutes. Because I didn't get my feed I'm dehydrated beyond belief. My lips are sticking together and my mouth feels like a badgers arse. And I've had enough. All I want is a new pump, I tell her, and I have been round the houses already. I'm not well and need this sorting out and to be honest I don't care who sorts it out for me I just want it sorted. It's not my fault that the call has been diverted to you but can you please just transfer me to someone that can help me because I feel ill and I feel like my head is going to explode.
I was eventually transferred to someone else that couldn't help me and just as I was starting to flip my lid she interjected and told me that she would take my details and pass them to the right person who would then call me back.
That call back happened pretty quickly and I went through all of the details with the chap. He agreed that the service that I received last night was terrible and that I should have at least spoken to an on-call nurse. He said that as the actions last night resulted in me missing a feed he had to log it as an incident so that it could be properly investigated. Finally someone was listening to me, agreeing that last nights shoddy treatment was not ok and going to try and sort it out. He also said that he was going to arrange for a pump to be delivered to me within 4 hours (the chap that delivered it was lovely and even called to give me an ETA which is above and beyond what you normally get from delivery men). I also explained the problems that I had experienced trying to get through to speak to someone. I told him that being sent all around the houses is not ok especially when I'm not feeling good anyway through being dehydrated and he said he would add that onto the incident form.
As soon as I put the phone down I got into bed, exhausted by it all. I fell asleep and was woken up a few hours later by the hammering on the windows and doors by the kids who had been brought home after school by a friend.
The pump arrived as promised and straight away I hooked up to a bag of saline. I chose saline instead of feed as I can push it in the veins faster than I can the feed so it would rehydrate me more quickly. The litre of saline went in over 4 hours and then I swopped over to my 2 litre bag of feed. Hopefully I should be ok despite missing a feed. I need to be as I have an appointment at St Marks tonortow to see Dr8 and have a check up on how everything's working (or not working in my case!)
NB x
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