I am writing to feedback my experience of the Tissue Viability service/care I received from the team at Lister (and later in the community) since December of last year.  I had an operation at Luton in December 2022 to remove my umbilicus (histology confirmed a sinus which persistently caused localised infection and on one occasion, sepsis).  I presented back to the L & D 5 days later with fever, seroma (confirmed with imaging), cellulitis, and septic symptoms. I was, for some reason, discharged home (to my boyfriend's in Stevenage) without antibiotic cover or a robust plan for (any kind!) follow up. Then I suffered a complete wound dehiscence, which subsequently led to severe sepsis. I was admitted to Lister via ambulance on this date and received care from the medical ward and TVN for many months after this while it healed.

Despite the obviously hugely overstretched service I was grateful from the off to have a far superior standard of safe and timely care from the Lister. (I was 'triaged' in the ambulance by medics/surgeons - many ambulances were lined up outside like an Al fresco ward as A and E was full to the rafters!). Kudos also due to whoever used their initiative to set this up, as well as utilising 'spare' paramedics to transfer patients from ED to wards to ease the load on the hugely overstretched service on this day).

After treating my sepsis, the medics/surgeons referred me to Patience Mpofu. I subsequently received several months continuous vacuum therapy on the (fairly enormous) open abdominal wound I was left with. I cannot overstate how smooth and complication-free the ensuing 3 months proved to be. I have a complex health history (clinical context = SLE, immunosuppressive meds/long-term steroids, recurrent sepsis, previous issues with mucosal ulcerations, and Tissue Viability) and can say with absolute certainty that I have NEVER had such a smooth recovery. From anything! I am extremely susceptible to opportunistic bacterial infections (which lead to the recurrent sepsis) but I had NO issues this time whatsoever (I remain incredulous regarding this!) And had a very smooth and speedy recovery under the care of Patience and her team.

I have to say that despite the fact I have never seen the NHS as overstretched as it was during this admission, I was blown away by the care and particularly the continuity of care I received from Patience and the team. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this was down to the practice of Patience and her team, delivering care over and above hospital policy/guidelines. She went out of her way to arrange bi-weekly follow-ups which were 100% tailored to my needs and preferences (I felt my practice nurses would manage the dressing changes despite never having seen these dressings before, Patience was totally on board with this and - rather than stick in a referral/ email- she spoke to the practice directly prior to my discharge from hospital, provided online resources, 'training ' and support for the practice nurses, and arranged for community TVN to regularly attend these appointments to ensure everything went smoothly for me). She was able to foresee potential trip-ups and put measures in place to ensure a safety net and high level of continuity of care which (as an ex-NHS midwife) I know only too well to be nigh on impossible. At the very least, I would say that this level of foresight, care, compassion, patient focus, initiative, and communication (I could go on!) is nothing short of extraordinary and has truly set me back on the path to recovery from recent health crises.  I genuinely believe Patience and her team have contributed enormously to my overall quality of life, not just my health, and my children, wider family, and myself are very, very grateful.

Patience totally understood my needs as a patient and went out of her way to ensure I would not fall between the gaps (being Harpenden based I'm technically put out of area) when I went home. The care she gave was extremely skilled, kind, empathic, responsive, patient-centred (I could go on all day!), and the (fairly intensive) follow-up all went off without a hitch despite the obvious potential problems after discharge. I also know for a fact that my GP practice nurses are delighted to have added another skill to their practice/experience - Patience obviously initiated this extra training, but they were then able to pass these new skills for vacuum dressing therapy on to each other over the course of several months. Patience has (and I really do believe her practice to be exceptional and directly responsible for this!) therefore also helped my local nurses with their continued professional development. This obviously benefited me and my care and well-being enormously, but will also exponentially benefit the wider community as this negative pressure therapy is a service/skill my GP / very experienced nurse practitioners can now offer to other patients in the future.

I am extremely grateful to you, Patience, for the high standard of care even in the face of the obvious problems faced by the NHS today. We need many, many more clinicians just like you - I think the NHS would be an entirely different kettle of fish if we did!