An Enniskillen woman has spoken of how the Rapid Response Nursing Team has given her the freedom to get on with her life as she continues to live with long term health conditions.

Helen Stockdale, from Enniskillen attends the Rapid Response Unit every three weeks to receive antibodies as she is immune deficient and has done so for the last six years.

If the service was not available, she would have to travel to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast and be admitted as a day patient, therefore taking up almost a whole day.

However, with the team having a base in Enniskillen, Helen can be in and out in about two and a half hours and then get on with her life.

The Rapid Response Nursing Team is a Community Nursing Intravenous Therapy Service.

In line with Transforming your Care it supports and facilitates early hospital discharge and avoids admission of patients to acute hospitals through delivery of Intravenous therapies at home.

The team supports patients either in their own home or through our state-of-the-art medical facility within three clinics at local Intervention centres across the Western Trust area including Enniskillen, Omagh and Londonderry. This allows us to support a greater number of patients to remain within their local community and for us to deliver care closer to the patient’s home.

“For several years prior to coming to Rapid Response I had some long term health problems,” explained Helen a retired nurse.

“Things escalated about seven or eight years ago where I was needing interventions and started to be admitted to hospital for IV interventions, acute infections and stuff like that and was very lucky that I was referred at an early stage from the Royal to the Rapid Response Nursing Team in Enniskillen because that probably was the biggest change in how my conditions were managed.

“Prior to that every time I was on an IV I was admitted to hospital and I’d have to stay in hospital for the whole time.

“But then when Rapid Response became involved it was originally facilitating an earlier discharge and some of the time now I have not needed to be admitted at all.”

And Helen says the service has changed her life as well as helping her mother who was poorly last year and through the work of the team was able to recover at home without being admitted to hospital. And it is something Helen would encourage people who have the opportunity of using the service to do so.

“When you are ready for discharge the best place you can be is at home and if you don’t need to be in hospital the best place you can be is at home because you get better faster

“It’s much better for you, much better for your family. With long term conditions, what people don’t realise is it can take over your life you don’t want it to and I am incredibly positive even though I have a battle on my hands these last few years. This team helps me do the can-do bit of my life.”

As well as the service they provide to their patients the whole year round, Helen has also seen the guidance the Rapid Response team provides to other healthcare professionals who are moving from a hospital setting out into the community.

Eileen Tyler, co-ordinator Rapid Response Nursing Team added: “The team works 8am to 12 midnight seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. We work in partnership with our local district nurses and provide a night service for patients who have ongoing nursing requirements in the evenings. The teams consists of nursing staff and support workers. We deliver care in patients homes as well as private nursing and residential homes.”

For Helen, because of her health condition, she will always have to avail of the Rapid Response service, but being in their capable hand she does not mind.

“A couple of hours of my day to be be relatively well the rest of the time and thanks to these guys is just amazing,” she added.