"Community continence services"

About 5 years ago, my (now) 87yr old father had a catheter inserted. His specialist referred him to the Prince of Wales Hospital Community Nursing service to receive home visits when his catheter needed to be changed. From the beginning, the nurses made him feel supported & reduced his anxiety when complications arose. All appointments were scheduled in advance & we received a reminder the day before. If we needed to cancel or change our appointment, the process was straightforward.

A few years later, my father had some medical set backs which caused some issues with his bladder & catheter. Following a conversation with our regular community nurse, a clinical nurse consultant (CNC) from the Community Continence service was booked to come & assist with the ongoing issues. This wonderful CNC changed my father's outlook on life. All of his challenges, that had caused him grief, became a shared experience. He could talk through the problems and the CNC offered practical help to try & alleviate the problem. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn’t, but she kept trying and because my father put his trust in her, he didn’t get anxious about it.

At the time of writing this now, the catheter changeover is not a stressful occurrence. A consistent method was developed, we have the right type of equipment and best of all my father doesn’t have long bouts of pain. Both my father and I are very grateful for the support that we have received by the Community nurses for over 5 years. Thank you so much.