Bad mouthed by my Health Visitor, feel let down...

[adamadamum]

Hi everyone, I would love to know your opinions on this. My DD, has a gastrostomy (feeding tube in her stomach) and therefore we need 6 monthly replacement of her Mic-key button, and also always need to have spares at home in case of emergencies (we have had 2 of those so far, her beautiful but curious little brother kindly removed it from her stomach twice...)

My HV put in the order I requested for 2 Mic-Key buttons and she turned up with it about 2 weeks ago all smiles, basically I have just read the "delivery note" that came with the supplies, about 2 weeks later (Lots of other more important paperwork, tons of other stuff, a high maintenance DD and a just turned 3 yr old, so I only read it today!)

Anyway -I saw this footnote on the faxed copy (or copy of the fax, whatever) "Discussed order of 2 mic buttons Gemma (MY HV) says mum quite disorganised so prefers 2 spares - have agreed to order it this time but explained policy..." there are a few more words but it's a fax copy and some has been lost!

I thought it was obvious why two is better than one, but what gets me is the comment from my HV. My house is not tidy a lot of the time due to 2 pre school kids and storage problems but I am obsessive about hygiene, and if anyone quizzed me on where anything important was (1st aid stuff, anything to do with Catherine's tube etc.) I can find it in the blink of an eye!

I don't feel I can trust my HV to be on my side...

I feel betrayed.

Sounds like the supplier was giving the HV a hard time so she might have had to embellish. Don't forget this is the supplier's interpretation not what the actual HV said. I wouldn't take it as a negative against your HV, it shows she understood what you felt your needs were and she pushed to get you what you wanted.

Hmm - would point out what you saw, just to embarrass her. It does sound as if she had to go against policy to get what you needed. My mum's a district nurse and is meant to go through a whole palaver to get pads for people who are incontinent- she prefers to ensure they get the amount they need rather than the amount the PCT says they should need, so makes up whatever to ensure they get it; it may be that your HV had to do the same

Trouble is though that in the process, she has made me sound incapable of keeping all the really important medical equipment organised, which is rubbish. I don't know who exactly she spoke to or who wrote that note, but they won't have exactly got the idea that I am the good mother that I like to believe I am!

Yeah but it's just NHS Logistics or someone, it's never going to be looked at again .

she probably had to blag to get the equipment. Seriously the NHS has so many rules about dishing out equipment in the community. All dreamed up by managers in offices of course who have never spent 5 mins in a patients home. I would point it out to her and ask her about it, but I do suspect she had to blag.