New project to improve experience for patients with nephrostomy tubes
Patients under the care of our Urology team are trialling new equipment which makes it easier to manage their condition at home.
A group of patients attending our Norfolk Centre for Interventional Radiology (NCIR) for routine nephrostomy tube exchanges will be given a take home pack which includes a belt to keep the tubing secure. A nephrostomy is a tube that lets urine drain from the kidney through an opening in the skin in the back. A thin, flexible tube called a nephrostomy tube is inserted through the opening and into the kidney. Urine drains through the tube into a bag outside of the body. The bag has a tap so patients can empty it. We have worked closely with Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust (NCH&C) teams to agree on using one product to make things simpler for patients and healthcare staff.
Clarke Watson, Lead Urology Nurse Practitioner has led the project alongside the NCIR Matron Cherry King. Clarke said: “Unfortunately the current equipment we use is sometimes problematic for patients and we’ve had multiple incidences of nephrostomy’s being pulled out because the tubes weren’t secure. This obviously causes a lot of distress for patients and puts a strain on our NCIR and Urology teams to arrange rapid re-insertion.
“We’ve worked closely with our partners in the community and reviewed several nephrostomy products to determine what we feel will meet the needs of our patients best. However, patient experience is key to understanding the successes of this trial – as such we will be collecting feedback directly from these patients when they arrive for their next planned exchange in 2025. Alongside this, healthcare staff in NCIR and the community will also be asked to evaluate the equipment.”
He added: “We hope that the new product, from Manfred-Sauer UK, will give a much more pleasant experience for our patients and prevent further incidences of tubes becoming dislodged. By standardising the equipment used at the NNUH and by the community teams we hope to provide a better service to patients because both nursing teams will be familiar with this one product and how to procure more.”