Degenerative illness

A long term Degenerative Illness can have a huge impact on the entire family. Having the right support in place to deal with the day to day issues that arise and help both emotionally and physically with all aspects of the illness can help ease the effects on the family.

We recognise that for some people degenerative illness may require care lasting only a short time, while others may require years of input.

At Complete Care Agency our support staff and qualified nurses are experienced in caring for those with long and short term degenerative illness and trained in any complex needs that you may develop. We work alongside the multidisciplinary team to ensure that you have the right levels of support in place as your needs change.

This is inclusive of, but not limited to:

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Motor Neurones Disease
• Huntington’s Disease
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
• Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)
• Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke

What we can do

Our support staff are currently working to support service users with:

Ventilator care – support with connecting and disconnecting your ventilator including NIPPI 3 and Cpap, support changing and cleaning your filters and tubing, support in recognising and managing problems with your ventilator

Tracheostomy care– we are able to undertake a full tracheostomy change, assist with inner cannula changing and cleaning and with care of your stoma site

Ambu-bagging – manual ventilation where clinical signs indicate respiratory difficulties require it

Cough assist – checking and ensuring settings are correct. Fully assisting in the use of your cough assist either manual or automatic

Chest physio – administer prescribed plan of care from physiotherapist

Suction – we are able to provide both shallow oral suctioning and deep suction via tracheostomy using either a closed or open suction catheter system

Bowel care – from assisting you into the right position to digital evacuation and bowel stimulation, including use of suppositories and enema’s

Stoma care – care of the stoma site and emptying of stoma bag

Catheter care – including intermittent catheterisation, care of your suprapubic site and catheter and recognition and management of urinary tract infections

Oxygen therapy – recognising the signs of oxygen desaturation such as cyanosis and assisting to apply oxygen whether this is delivered via nasal cannula, face mask or tracheostomy using cylinders or condensers

Epilepsy management – dealing with injury arising from a seizure administration of midazolam and diazepam

Gastrostomy care – care of the stoma site, administering medication, water and food via PEG tube using both gravity and pumps