Posted on: 13 September 2021

A patient has written a letter of thanks to Camden Integrated Primary Care staff, highlighting a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation to the team members and district nurses for their care, diligence and professionalism.

In the letter addressed to our Board of Directors, Camila Batmanghelidjh thanks staff for operating at “such a high level of quality”, and for creating a service that is “truly outstanding and incredibly effective”.

Due to complex health difficulties, Camila engages with medical services on a daily basis, and says the Integrated Primary Care Team is a "special gift" that has “completely transformed my capacity to function”.

The letter is published in full below.

To the Board of Directors,

I am writing to bring to your attention the extraordinary quality of one of your services. I was born very premature at 1kg and not put in an incubator, because the expectation was that I was going to die. However, I survived but with a lot of health complications since childhood.

During the COVID period, I have been housebound and shielding. I also have very severe swelling due to lymph problems. In the last year, my health difficulties became more severe and my GP decided to refer me to your Belsize Priory Integrated Primary Care, as well as, to a complex team.

Since I have come into contact with the Primary Care team, I have found the workers who have been dealing with me to be incredibly diligent and intelligent in the way they make decisions. The occupational therapist, Jessica Aka, has worked very carefully with the physiotherapist, Stephanie Fernandez, and together they have completely transformed my capacity to function by providing a range of equipment and advice, which I really needed.

On two occasions this year I had health crises, and immediately the district nurses and the Rapid Response team intervened. Due to my swelling, caused by Lymphedema, I am unable to move and therefore attend hospital appointments, unless an ambulance is used.

This team, in many ways, have been so effective that they have prevented collectively two potential crises. The workers are efficient, kind, thoughtful and incredibly professional. I feel I can turn to them with a crisis and they will respond very quickly.

I just wanted you to know, that as a board of directors, you have a service that is truly outstanding and incredibly effective. I had a variety of nurses come and see me and they were all of a very high quality. I have been a prolific user of medical services, both privately and within the NHS – I have to say that the Integrated Primary Care team surpassed anything else I have come across.

I wanted to thank you for creating such a service and for managing it at such a high level of quality. It is very clear that the team have a great deal of respect for Lizzie Mander - their director - as well as their assistant directors Sarina Cove, Jessica Aka and Stephanie Fernandes. The first person I came across was the senior community nurse, Tom Goldspink, and he got the ball rolling. In the last few months, I have met team members from the blood-takers, to a number of district nurses, and I realise I may not have provided all their names - suffice to say they were all very good in their unique ways.

I feel a deep sense of gratitude towards them and a lot of appreciation for you to have created a team like this, for people like me, who have to on a daily basis, deal with complex health difficulties. This is a special gift.

With gratitude and kind regards,

Camila Batmanghelidjh