Fylde coast nurses providing a lifeline for patients

Playing a crucial role in making this possible are district nurses who have remained committed to their patients throughout the crisis.

Those in need include people with wounds which need dressing, patients on end-of-life palliative care and those in need of help with medication or injections.

Jemma Passmore, team leader for Fleetwood district nurses, said staff were committed to providing the lifeline.

She said: “We have had to go through our caseload to prioritise patients and to see which patients can be self caring.

“If a patient has family we are training them to carry out procedures such as changing wound dressings, which means we can visit less frequently.

“But we have a lot of patients who live alone without support and we are continuing to visit those. ”

Patients are called by telephone before each visit and asked if they have a cough or raised temperature. If the visit is essential and cannot be delayed beyond the isolation period, nurses will go in but must wear personal protection equipment.

Jemma added: “We would care for them as we would anyone else, but taking care for our safety.”

Video technology, including telehealth, is being used to treat patients living in care homes.

Video calls mean patients can show the nurses any wounds and receive advice, while care home staff have also received additional training.

Jemma said: “We’re doing the best we can to keep up the level of care and to keep smiling for patients, especially those who are vulnerable and might be on their own.”

She added nurses are also supporting each other in order to keep their own morale up during such difficult times.

Meanwhile for one nurse, it was her brother who came to her rescue when she needed transport to carry on doing her job.

Sue Roberts, a director of critical care at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, and her partner Sylvia Taylor, an infection prevention nurse, feared they would not be able to get into work when their car broke down.

Lockdown measures mean garages are closed and they could not rely on taxis to get them from their home on the edge of Blackpool to the hospital.

But in the nick of time Sue’s brother William came to the rescue.

His company, Roberts and Co Sales and Lettings in Penwortham, Preston, has been forced to shut due to the outbreak, but had a spare vehicle which he handed over to Sue and Sylvia.

Sue said: “We ‘re both working longer hours and more days each week so not having transport was going to be really difficult for us.

“We just tried to get on with but had to get to work. Then my brother said why hadn’t we told them, and straight away he and his wife gave us one of their cars because their business has had to close for the timebeing.

“We’re so grateful and it’s taken a real worry off our shoulders at a difficult time.”