A PENSIONER has slammed the after-care she received following a stay in hospital, after claiming she was denied home visits because she lives in a different borough to her GP surgery.

Sandra Samler, of Elmcroft Avenue in Wanstead, spent a night in Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone last Monday (July 5) for an epidural to treat a long-standing back complaint.

Before leaving the hospital's Poplar ward on Tuesday she was told she would have to have five consecutive daily injections of blood anti-coagulants, with a district nurse due to visit her each day home to administer the treatment.

Mrs Samler, 67, said: “When I got home I got a call from the sister on the ward to ask me where I paid my rates. I said I lived in Redbridge and she told me that because I lived there but had a GP in Waltham Forest that I couldn't have the visits.

“So on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week I had to go to my GP for these injections, and it was only on Saturday and Sunday that the district nurse from the health centre in South Woodford came out to see me.

“That was just because my doctor, whose surgery is in Lea Bridge Road in Leyton, sent a fax or something to put a bit of pressure on them to get me the visits.

“I had the district nurse visit me four years ago after I had a new knee so I don't know why it's different now.

“I've been registered at that surgery since I was four years old, which shows how I obviously don't want to change.

“It shouldn't matter where I pay my rates or where I live, I'm entitled to visits from the district nurse.

“I think it's outrageous, and this is my life they're playing around with after all.”

A spokesman for NHS Waltham Forest said: “For any patient to qualify for a District Nurse (DN) home visit they have to meet certain criteria around mobility.

“If a patient is fully mobile they do not qualify and would be expected to go to their GP for treatment.

”A DN may visit a patient to continue a course of treatment while the GP surgery is closed – typically on a weekend, but the patient would be expected to return to their GP for further treatment during the week.

“It may also be the case that for some conditions, where medicines are given to prevent blood clotting for example, that the patient might benefit from a trip to their GP rather than remaining stationary at home.”