A tale of two NHS hospital treatments

I HAVE a 31-year-old daughter with profound learning disabilities and a mental age of an 18-month-old baby. She lives in a fantastic care home in Taunton and is very happy there.

She was very mobile until about 18 months ago, when she started walking awkwardly – so much so that she was tripping and falling over her feet.

The local hospital, Musgrove Park, did X-rays and found there were problems with her left hip and she had arthritis. She was referred to Bristol Royal Infirmary as there was a consultant there who specialises in hip problems in younger people.

On 5th January this year we went to the BRI to see the consultant. About two weeks earlier I had contacted the Learning Disability Liaison nurse at BRI and explained that my daughter would behave better for a male radiographer and that she did not wait well for any length of time.

When we arrived at BRI we were met by two lady radiographers who had not been told of my request for a male. Then we waited for 90 minutes, during which time it was very difficult to keep my daughter amused.

After an hour I asked the nurse if the Learning Disability Liaison nurse had passed on the fact that waiting was difficult. She did not know what an LD Liaison nurse was!

We were eventually called in but did not see the consultant – only a registrar, who had no idea what learning disability was. He asked me why she could not talk or communicate! He said they would not operate but would give my daughter a pain killing injection into her hip – but not for at least six months.

As we had not heard anything about this injection, in May I arranged a private consultation at Exeter Nuffield. As soon as the consultant saw the X-rays and my daughter, he said of course she needed a hip replacement and he would perform it on the NHS. The operation was originally pencilled in for August 2022 but had to be postponed because of other medical problems my daughter had.

Eventually the operation took place at RD&E on the 17th October. One of the LD Liaison nurses was with us the whole time during the pre-surgery appointment and on the morning prior to surgery and made all the arrangements necesary. After the operation, my daughter was taken to Dyball Ward where she had a single room.

The care home sent a carer each day at 9am who stayed until 5pm. I took over at 5pm until 9am next day, so that my daughter always had someone at her bedside that she knew. All the staff – from the surgeons, physios, nurses to porters – had all been advised of my daughter’s needs and were all very good with her. Everyone was very kind and caring and supported me and the carer as well.

My daughter was discharged three days after the operation and is now back at her care home. A district nurse has already visited to check her wound. Whilst my daughter is not yet allowed to weight bear, she can move her leg much more and is not crying in pain when sat in her wheelchair – as she had been for the last nine months or so.

If one part of the NHS (Exeter) can give such care for learning disability patients – why cannot another part of the NHS (Bristol) do the same?

Bronwyn Nott Crediton, Devon