I have posted about this before but the problem is still ongoing and i am hoping someone can advise what steps we should be taking now.

My daughter had a gall bladder op back in November and was left with an open wound in her abdomen which has been treated by packing the wound with dressings daily. The wound is still open and not showing much sign of healing. I am getting desperate now and want to know how best we can get help to get this resolved.

the wound is constantly weeping and soaks through the packing material and dressings come off but the nurses wont prescribe sufficient dressings for my daughter to replace them when they come loose. She regularly comes away from her nurse appt with ONE large plaster type dressing which is supposed to last 2 days. Usually she has to use this when she gets home as the dressing the nurses put on has become lose during the walk home so she is then left with no more dressings until, the next appt in two days. yesterday she went to a&e to get the wound redressed as she was near the hospital. They did this but again refused to give her any extra dressings. The lack of dressings means the wound is uncovered and presumably open to infection.

The district nurses are supposed to come out and dress the wound at weekends but this only happens very rarely. Usually she is told they are too busy.

The wound had been infected 5 times now so she has no end of antibiotics prescribed. She was supposed to be referred to a tissue viability nurse a while ago but the wound improved temporarily when silver dressings were tried so this appt was cancelled. The silver dressings are no longer having any effect and the wound is still not healing. My daughter has asked for another referral to the tissue viability nurse but has been told she doesn't need it.

She was supposed to have an appt with the surgeon who did the op this week but that has now been cancelled until the end of may. no reason has been given. She did go up to the ward where she had the op yesterday to ask their advice about getting help to get the wound healed but they said they can't help as she has been discharged from their care for too long now.

She has spoken  to PALS and they have said they will look into it for her but to be honest we have complained to PALS so many times during the course of this problem I am not convinced they will do anything.

In the mean time my daughter is left with an open wound which is sore and painful. her clothes are constantly messed up because of the seepage from the wound. She is struggling to care for her six month old son as the wound is so painful and she is getting no help from the NHS. I know money is tight in the NHS but surely it would make more sense to get this wound healed quickly even if it does cost more money rather than having it drag on and on like it is now. She has now had six months of dressings and nurse appointments etc.

Thanks for anyone who can tell me where we go from here.

If  PALS aren't  helping I would suggest putting a complaint into the Clinical Commissioning Group CCG Chief Exec ( taken over from the Primary Care Trust from the 1st April.)

I would suggest that she should now ask for a referral back to a plastic surgeon to look at reopening and cleaning the wound up and restitching as it sounds like this has gone on far too long now and needs sorting.

I would be asking the GP for an urgent second opinion.  It's disgusting how long this has been going on...

If I remember the GP isn't much use and so I think escalating it now to the CCG is the way to get something sorted.

I have got some names that I have given so hopefully that may get something sorted

Ask the GP to prescribe dressings she keeps at home, soggy dressings make a great breeding ground for bacteria so I am not surprised she is getting repeat infections

I would be asking them to take a swab of the wound and culture to see what bacteria are there,causing the infection.
They should then run a bacteriogram ,against at least 12 different antibiotics to see  what will be effective to kill this recurrent infection.
Some years back,my dog has huge problems with proteus bacteria,which caused recurrent ulceration of the skin.I used to put betadine  to disinfect the wound..then we used rifocin antibiotic liquid to attack  the bacterium. The proteus strain was diagnosed as resistant to all 12 antibiotic groups we tried and we had to keep changing the treatments on a regular basis. In the end a fourth generation antibiotic was used to break the cycle....it was a long  slog but we finally came through.my dogs immune system was also tested ,Ana test, and we used medrol to boost her depressed immune system.
I would go to the chemist and get some gauze swatches to cover the wound and at least be able to disinfect and cover at home.

Thanks everyone. my daughter has just called me to say that she insisted on seeing her GP today. He has now prescribed a stronger AB.

A nurse has dressed the wound with a different type of silver dressing packed into it. This packing has to stay inside for a week. It has been covered with a much larger waterproof dressing which also has to stay on for a week. I must admit I am skeptical as to whether the dressing will stay for a week as they usually fall off very quickly. and I am not sure that leaving the wound covered and not looked at for a week seems like a good idea either. Does this new way of treating the wound sound reasonable?

Daughter is clutching at straws as she really doesn't want to go back into hospital because of the children. She has said she will come round later so we can write a formal letter of complaint. 

ETA. GP has again refused to refer her to a specialist wanting to give the wound another week to heal.

GP has again refused to refer her to a specialist wanting to give the wound another week to heal.

I have a feeling the doctor knows they should have done something before now and is hoping to deal with it on the quiet, think you daughter should insist on a referral and if she does not get it ask for a form so she can make an official complaint.

Until they know what bacteria are there I think sealing the wound up for a week could be dangerous. many of these persistent bacteria are anaerobes...their enemy is fresh air and oxygen..IMO the wound should be changed daily.
(My degree is zoology,I am not a doctor,but there are so many red lights here I had to post).

Thanks very much. Apparently she has ha d a call from the DRs to say that they have the results back on the swab and she needs a different antibiotic as the one they prescribed won't work against the bacteria. Unfortunately due to having 2 screaming children when she received the call she didn't get the name of the AB now prescribed. She thinks the bacteria name was
Strep B? does that sound right?

If the bacteria was streptococcus B ,you can google it and it describes the bacterium being involved in wound infections..
http://www.dermnetnz.org/bacterial/wound-infection.html
I found this ..Serious streptococcal infections (such as necrotizing fasciitis, endocarditis, and severe cellulitis) require penicillin, given intravenously, sometimes with other antibiotics. In necrotizing fasciitis, dead, infected tissue must be surgically removed.
So if this were me,I'd be pushing to be re admitted and get the surgeon to abrade the wound and treat this properly. it is a serious condition, and you need a week in hospital for the treatment...the antibiotics are given intravenously  and this isn't done at home.
...don't let them fob your daughter off...this is a serious condition.

And this link...
https://www.google.it/search?q=wound+not+healing+after+surgery&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
I also read that vitamin C and zinc are recommended for good healing.....I bet your daughter is a bit run down ,
so do stress she needs to try to take time for herself,to relax and eat well...all will boost her immune system.

Myself after this length of time I would go to AE and refuse to move until I was admitted that is a seriously long time to have an open wound.