To think the elderly deserve more respect than this

[bigbluebus]

I have recently spent some time in a hospital ward. The other occupants were mostly elderly and some seemingly had dementia. Whilst the staff were lovely, they all seemed to talk to the patients like they were two year olds. I was shocked and surprised.
Also there was a patient who came into the ward who was not expected to make it. All her family were at her bedside. She was on a ward with 5 other patients and only a curtain separating them from everyone else. A priest was called to administer the last rites. Everyone could hear and all through the prayers the woman in the bed opposite coughed loudly (she clearly had a chest infection). I felt really sad for the family and the very sick/dying woman that they had not been afforded any privacy in what may have been her final hours. I appreciate it is not always possible to get a side room especially at this time of year but AIBU to think that somewhere is this not insignificant sized hospital, they would have been able to find a quiet room on one of the wards.

[mincepieprivateeye]

That is a real shame, so sad for the family. I know there are huge pressures with financial cuts, lack of staff and more people than they can cope with but I also think sometimes that the staff are so busy trying to nurse that other things can be overlooked. The family didn't think they could ask for the lady to be moved and the nurses didn't think to see if it was possible.

[TheFuzz]

I've just come out of a spinal unit having been in over 6 weeks. There is a severe shortage of staff and by the nature of a spinal unit the inmates are generally three categories. Old with falls, cancer patients and younger folk in through accidents.

I spent most of my time keeping an eye on the chap with dementia, he had a broken back and would be up and off having forgotten where he was and his back. Took a lot of effort to pursuade him to wait for nurses.

It's just the way it is. The guy next to me nearly died one night, huge blood loss. Fortunately I was out of it with morphine. The other inmates had a good week of me struggling to breath and get pain under control, same when other new patients arrived. It's a bit of a war zone.