The pandemic's impact on a lymphoedema service : reflections of a lymphoedema clinical lead nurse specialist

Abstract

Louise Rooney has worked in the NHS for 34 years in various roles, but her passion is the treatment of lymphoedema and how best to support patients with this underestimated and debilitating chronic condition. She has been working as a lymphoedema clinical nurse specialist since 2009; in 2019, she became the lymphoedema clinical lead at the Walsall Palliative Care Centre, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. In this article, Rooney elaborates on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lymphoedema service, her own practice and that of her colleagues.