Maggots, a special wound dressing and a new staff training programme have all helped get a Billingham woman back on her feet after a serious road accident.
Brenda Barrett sustained a number of serious injuries when she was hit at 60mph by another car as she was driving.
The 81-year-old spent three weeks in hospital before returning home under the care of the community nursing team at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
From her home, the team focused on a number of her injuries including a significant wound to her left leg.
Brenda explained: “I was in a very serious accident where I suffered seven broken ribs, a broken sternam, a broken nose and broken finger.
“But by far the most serious injury was a wound to my leg. It’s something which has meant I have been unable to walk properly and caused a lot of pain.”
“Fabulous team”
Due to the serious nature of the injury, the Trust’s district nursing team asked for support and advice from the tissue viability nurses.
The team, led in the community by specialist nurse Andy Brown, put together a care package for Brenda.
Andy said: “The tissue viability nurses supported the community nursing team to help with Brenda’s leg wound.
“We recommended a number of measures. These included a dressing not frequently used by the team, a medical grade fly larvae treatment using maggots to help clean the wound and a negative wound care pump to help it heal.
“We also created training videos for staff in an internal network called the learning hub. These are aimed at refreshing some of their knowledge and skills when it comes to wounds.
“Brenda has clearly benefitted from these steps. She is improving every day and will soon be back on her feet.”
Brenda added: “All of the staff who have cared for me have been fabulous. I couldn’t have asked for more.
“Thanks to them, the wound is healing very well, there is no scarring and the pain is reducing.
“All of the treatments have worked – even the maggots treatment I didn’t feel a thing. There was nothing to fear.
“I have gone from needing the wound re-dressing every day to once every three days. I can’t thank the team enough.”