"The district nurse went above and beyond her duty"

My experience of your service was good and in particular one nurse who gave above and beyond her duty to my husband and was under the Bromley Health care service, District Nurses.

My husband was terminally ill, was constantly in pain and could barely walk. To say he had many problems is putting it mildly.

All staff were good and done their job efficiently, but one young lady in my opinion stood out from the rest. Her dedication and care surpassed all. She liaised with Orpington hospital, Podiatry/Diabetic Unit when she thought his foot was becoming worse and the hole was getting larger. Between her and Orpington podiatry, he was eventually referred to Kings College hospital Diabetic Clinic where his foot received the necessary treatment required. She also liaised with the staff at Kings College hospital, and spoke directly with the people who were looking after my husband to make sure she was doing exactly what was right for him. Asking their advice on the best treatment and to keep up where possible what they were doing. Her determination to do what was best for him carried on throughout her home visits.

She also spoke to my GP’s surgery to help me and ordered bandages etc.. that my husband needed for his foot. I think she could see that I was getting anxious about my husband and was trying to ease some of my stress by ringing the surgery and dealing with them for me, taking some of the pressure off me.

I had minor operation in the day surgery unit at the PRU hospital and unfortunately developed an infection. When she came to see my husband she took the trouble to see if I was OK. On the 2nd day, she told me she did not think I was getting any better and should call the doctor. I said not to bother, but she urged me to phone the doctor. Eventually I allowed her to ring the M doc. From then on she took matters into her own hands because she realised I was not well enough and unable to cope.

She arranged for everything including getting my daughter over to us so she could get my husband to the hospice and I could go to hospital. I was in the hospital for a few days on the intravenous drip for 24 hours.

I could write more but at the end of the day it comes down to the fact that Gemma did more than was asked of her and went above and beyond her duty as stated before.

I also feel that if you can complain about a service then you can certainly ring or write when you get the excellent service that we received from Gemma

I hope my message gets passed on to Gemma and her superiors with many thanks.