Happy Birthday

The trust is so proud to have great people working for us, doing great things!

A year ago Kaitlin joined our team as Community Eye Drops Co-ordinator and we never looked back… until now!

Since starting Kaitlin has made 1,703 home visits and what started out as just an eye drop service has now grown to include catheter care, compression management and medication/insulin prompts:

Eye Drops
Eye drop support, eye care help and advice in the community to clients who are unable to administer themselves, including long-term patients or short-term post op clients. All required visits from once a day up to 3-4 times per day.

Catheter Care
Catheter leg bags require changing every 7 days to prevent bacteria getting into the system and infections occurring. Visits also help to assess if there are any issues with the catheter and signpost the client where to seek help & advice if it can’t be given by Wilberforce Trust staff.

Compression Management
Compression hosiery is used to help heal and prevent leg ulcers and other venous issues. Visits are to remove compression stocking and assess the condition of wounds, which in turn monitors and improves the condition. Clients wouldn’t otherwise wear these as they can’t put them on or take them off themselves without Wilberforce Trust help. It is estimated around 1 in 50 people over the age of 80 has one (NHS UK).

Insulin Prompts
Ensuring clients with memory or mobility issues can safely and timely administer insulin as independently as possible. Also monitoring diabetic patients’ glucose levels and reporting these to diabetes specialist when necessary. Can be required up to 2 or 3 times per day.

Statistics

• Approx. 4478 eye drops administered
• 1703 home visits
• 778 telephone prompts
• 621 hours given back to the NHS
• 260 hours spent providing support
• More than 6500 miles travelled

Client Testimonials

You don’t just have to take our word for what a great job Kaitlin is doing and how invaluable this service the trust delivers is, see what our clients and district nurses have to say:

• “Excellent & reliable service delivered by friendly caring support team.”
  • Client testimonial
  • Support received – Daily eye drops

• “Nurses very helpful, especially when I ran out of insulin over a weekend. They got me enough to carry on until my prescription was ready.”
  • Client testimonial
  • Support received – Help with taking insulin twice daily, correct amount checked

• “My eyes are very good and on time. They are pleasant and tell me who will be here the next day.”
  • Client testimonial
  • Support received – Eye drops

• “Excellent service. Kaitlin always goes above and beyond to be pleasant to mum and support her with care.”
  • Client relative testimonial
  • Support received – Eye drops

Nurse Testimonials

“Administration of eye drops is a task which is time consuming for DN teams and would be referred to us if a patient was unable to self -administer or did not have a family member or carer who was able to do this. Our service is very stretched and we need to prioritise therefore if you were not assisting then patients may not receive the prescribed number of drops daily as we do not have the capacity to do multiple visits. Your input reduces the workload for the DN team.

By the time I refer to yourselves I will have exhausted all potential opportunities to enable patients to self -care therefore the support they receive from you enables them to continue and lightens the load on the DN teams.

I am sure that we will continue to work well together and thank-you again for your support and excellent communication.”

District nurse testimonial

“Happy 1st Birthday to the Wilberforce Trust

This service has been a great addition to the District Nursing team across York and continues to be a great asset to the service. Patients benefit from the continuity of same staff members visiting. The referral system is made simple and effortless and the communication is excellent and efficient The Wilberforce trust would benefit from another member of staff as I feel this service is starting to be a growing success.”

Aimee Gowlett, Clinical co-ordinator North District Nursing team