You may remember a short while ago, I was pulling my hair out trying to get some treatment for my mum. She has been diagnosed with copd after a bout of pneumonia 18 months ago and still has not seen a dr (apart from GP ) unless she was in hospital, 3 times in as many months with exacerbations.
Out patient appointments made and cancelled by hospital, anyway, we now have a community matron.
WHAT AN ABSOLUTE GODSEND, she is brilliant. I went to GP and asked for a referral to her, the best thing I have done.
My mum is quite underweight, and I had tried to get her supplementary drinks but she needed to be seen by a dietician ( she would have wasted away before the appointment ), she has got her a community dietician.
The same with oxygen assessment, again previously cancelled appointments, but now sorted.
She has been everyday this week as my mum is unwell again with another chest infection, she has prescribed anti biotics, the same as she has had in hospital. She has saved my mum another stint as an in patient.
I am so grateful I could kiss her, and to you here for suggesting it in the first place.
To anyone struggling at home, see if you can get a referral to your community matron
Val
Written by
Poppin
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12 Replies
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Awh thats good glad its come right for you and mum
Having good back-up makes all the difference in situations like this. Just knowing there is help available can be very reassuring rather than battling on alone. Hope your mam's better soon. x
What great news Poppin, my Matron is wonderful - she tells me that she's here for my wife too - for both of us. Our collective aim is to keep me out of hospital. In fact she rang today with news about my wife's blood test results.
Wonderful! you need all the support you can get and she sounds like a good person! Hope your Mum is feeling better, hugs xxx
That is exactly the same thing that has happened to us, my husband has end stage COPD/Bronchiectasis and was in hospital 4 times last year with pneumonia, we had no help whatsoever, all the GPs did was prescribe antibiotics over the 'phone, and one day, when he was in hospital we asked to see someone in charge and we actually spoke to the specialist who was doing his rounds, we told him, in no uncertain terms exactly what was happening and we had no help at all and was going to make a complaint about how we were being treated by the GPs, the specialist asked us if we had a community matron and we told him we had never heard of her, he said your GP should have referred you to her months ago.
He said he would write to the GP's and gave me a letter to give to them. Within a week she had been to see us, we got a wheelchair, emergency antibiotics, dietician, physio who decided he would be better off on oxygen when he is walking about, she organised a nebuliser for him and it is now seven months after his last hospital admittance and he has gone 7 weeks without a chest infection due to new drugs he was given.
The GP's are useless but the Matron is an angel without wings, my husband would have been dead now if it wasn't for her. The GP's are a Jack of all trades and master of none and one day, we do not know why, the GP came to see him and said he had read our notes and could see we were being looked after and that COPD was not their area of speciality therefore things get missed and that is why the Matron comes to see us as she can get the correct people involved.
We saw the specialist in January as the Matron asked the GP to write to him and get us an emergency appointment as she thought he could do with low dose antibiotics three times a week which act as an anti-inflammatory and he also said that he would put my husband on oxygen 16 hours minimum a day
So if anyone is dealing with the GP's only and finding that things are not going well, ask to see the Community Matron, she will visit you and assess you and if she feels you are in need of better care than the GP's can give you, she will take your case.
My husband is lucky, the same as your mum, they have someone to fight their corner, but there are a heck of a lot of people with the same illness or another illness struggling along on their own without the help of anyone, so they should definitely ask to be referred to the Matron so she can get them the things they need. If she thinks that everything is okay as it stands, at least you have made contact with her and she is always there for future problems.
It's awful to feel so useless isn't it? We are not experts so need all the help we can get.
My mum is a stubborn old bugger and won't go to GP in case she is wasting his time!!!
It is such a relief now that she is seen regularly and treatment can start immediately.
We still haven't seen a specialist as yet though, but at least the matron will sort this for us, leaving me the time to care for her and not spend most of my time fighting for help
That is exactly the same thing that has happened to us, my husband has end stage COPD/Bronchiectasis and was in hospital 4 times last year with pneumonia, we had no help whatsoever, all the GPs did was prescribe antibiotics over the 'phone, and one day, when he was in hospital we asked to see someone in charge and we actually spoke to the specialist who was doing his rounds, we told him, in no uncertain terms exactly what was happening and we had no help at all and was going to make a complaint about how we were being treated by the GPs, the specialist asked us if we had a community matron and we told him we had never heard of her, he said your GP should have referred you to her months ago.
He said he would write to the GP's and gave me a letter to give to them. Within a week she had been to see us, we got a wheelchair, emergency antibiotics, dietician, physio who decided he would be better off on oxygen when he is walking about, she organised a nebuliser for him and it is now seven months after his last hospital admittance and he has gone 7 weeks without a chest infection due to new drugs he was given.
The GP's are useless but the Matron is an angel without wings, my husband would have been dead now if it wasn't for her. The GP's are a Jack of all trades and master of none and one day, we do not know why, the GP came to see him and said he had read our notes and could see we were being looked after and that COPD was not their area of speciality therefore things get missed and that is why the Matron comes to see us as she can get the correct people involved.
We saw the specialist in January as the Matron asked the GP to write to him and get us an emergency appointment as she thought he could do with low dose antibiotics three times a week which act as an anti-inflammatory and he also said that he would put my husband on oxygen 16 hours minimum a day
So if anyone is dealing with the GP's only and finding that things are not going well, ask to see the Community Matron, she will visit you and assess you and if she feels you are in need of better care than the GP's can give you, she will take your case.
My husband is lucky, the same as your mum, they have someone to fight their corner, but there are a heck of a lot of people with the same illness or another illness struggling along on their own without the help of anyone, so they should definitely ask to be referred to the Matron so she can get them the things they need. If she thinks that everything is okay as it stands, at least you have made contact with her and she is always there for future problems.
I have a matron now for 3 years ,she a real friend as well as a nurse ,I had not had to see by GP in all that time as ,if I start getting chesty I phone her and if I need to see she she's round ,As she knows me she knows if I'm more unwell that I say I cant fool her bless her she wonderful and amazing ,I know from bitter sweet experiences ,just how scary lungs problems can get and how fast we can become gravely ill , and having a community Matron helps my feel safe and in my own home as she also can get rapped response in to 3 times a day if your really not well hospital at home . I love myNHS x
Couldn t agree more community mstron s are the best nothing is too much trouble for mine. She even said she find out about a stair lift when I needed it, makes you feel special, rather than useless as I often feel.
That's heart-warming Poppin to know of your many attempts on your mum's behalf and that she's now getting the much needed help and support. I haven't heard of a community matron and wonder if all surgerys have them?
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