Giving Ms R respite at home between hospital visits

Ms R, 68, spent much of 2010 in hospital after developing problems with her hip replacement. Unfortunately, a month after undergoing surgery to fit the artificial joint, it became dislocated. Each time she had an operation to put it back in place, it moved again, eventually leading to infection. On one occasion, the hip dislodged on Christmas Day and by Boxing Day she was back in hospital.

She said: "I was in hospital for long periods of time last year. On one occasion I was in for six weeks."

Surgeons eventually removed the hip replacement leaving nothing in its place, meaning that Jennifer, who has a 90-year-old partially sighted mother, was left unable to get around without a wheelchair or crutches.

In February 2011, her circumstances hadn't changed and she was still waiting for an appointment for a new hip replacement, a situation which caused her and her family a great deal of stress. She said: "It's like being in a cage at the moment. I haven't been upstairs for a year. It's getting a bit much because I have got to rely on people to help me and I still don't know when they are going to put in a new replacement."

In between hospital visits, she was cared for in her St Alban's home by MediHome. Nurses would visit Jennifer three times a day to change her dressings and administer antibiotics via a drip (PICC line) inserted into her upper arm.

She said: "MediHome have been brilliant. I couldn't fault them. The nurses were lovely and such a good laugh. They were very helpful and managed to get me another appointment at the hospital when I needed it. If they were running late, they would always phone me. I missed them when they stopped coming." Once her treatment from MediHome had finished, Jennifer received visits from a district nurse.