to expect hospital to accept delivery of flowers for my mum?

hospitals are so boring that puzzle books, magazines, needlepoint puzzles anything to pass the time is nicer than flowers

My sister's been in hospital recently. I thought about taking flowers but took her a book (do they carry bacteria?) and spent the money on topping up her patientline card so she could watch the Apprentice and surf the net from her bed instead!

This is very common, I don't think it is unreasonable for the hospital to refuse delivery, but I do think the florist should have known this and told you before you placed the order.
I was going to send flowers to a friend who was in hospital some distance away and the florist (I think it was Intaflora?) told me that they generally don't deliver to wards, so I decided against it. Instead I sent a little care package with some magazines and puzzle books to her mum who took them in next time she visited.

chicaguapa if that hospital is st richards got a feeling that they don't allow flowers anymore. on the plus side bril hospital

Im not suprised they are banned sad for the op when she was trying to do something nice for her mum but I think its understandable.
I knocked a very expensive looking vase of flowers off a bedside cabinet when answering an emergency buzzer to a woman having a pph, not ideal trying to avoid glass, flowers, and water when putting in drips etc added to which her dh was not happy about the fact they were knocked over

flowers only tend to cause infection if they are left to fester in stagnant water , we have a volunteer who comes on the ward during the week and refreshes the water and throws away old or dead flowers . Some wards im sure dont have this luxury and the nurses,auxillaries and domestics simply dont have the time to do this .

i was talking about me to munch when dh is in hospital

I would of thought fruit basket were worse. I can remember them being confiscated on boarding a cruise ship because they didnt want contamination.

fruit baskets are very welcome

There has been no properly carried out research into this but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support it. There is also concerns about freshly cut flowers being in a vase next to electrical equipment being a health and safety hazard.

I think it is a shame as a bunch of flowers do brighten up the dull NHS wards but I can see where these concerns are coming from especially in this day and age of increased wound infection rates etc

in 10 years i've never seen anyone get ill as a result of flowers

poor handwashing yes... flowers no!!!

we haven't banned flowers where i work... we did discuss banning them, but decided not to for many reasons.. one being that it does help to ceheer up patients.. from the infection control point of view, no more a risk than keeping flowers at home (but i don't work in a high risk speciality) we do ask patients to look after their flowers themselves.. if someone asks for a vase i tell them where to get it and people are happy with that..

and if a bunch was delivered to the ward i would pass them on to the patient, same as i would a card or telephone message..

i would however ban balloons.. pointless floaty get in the bloody way things

different hospitals have different policies...

Catsmother - dh was in Addenbrookes and flowers weren't allowed on his ward.

Nobody said anything about gel hand rub being wrong but it is only in recent years that this has become necessary why are things going so badly wrong that our hospitals are no riddled with MRSA etc. and why suddenly after so many years are flowers a health risk, a risk which has never actually been proven concretely I might add.
I am sorry Tissy that you felt the need to use such a patronising tone to my post and the difference may be clear to you but believe it or not I am a pretty well educated intelligent person and the differences are not clear to me.

V. v annoying they didn't advertise it much so you went and wasted your money, on the other hand she may stand a better chance of survival in out Third World hospitals without extra risks from flowers etc. I think you should take it in your stride and learn for next time, in the knowledge they have your mum in their best interests

I really didn't know that flowers were not allowed. I can see the logic I suppse but what a shame. Last time anyone i knew was in hospital she had loads of flowers but it was about 13 years ago and it was private so probably things have changed.

Just out of interest what should you give? Is fruit OK?

Message withdrawn

I'm an infection control nurse although I haven't worked on the wards for a while. When I was nursing flowers were certanly not allowed on certain wards, itu haematology units, high risk patients in other words. I'm not surprised they are banned completlely in some hospitals to be honset. The water they sit in is the biggest problem - pseudomonas being one the the worst bugs.

Yes they do look nice but they unfortunately get in the way, aren't maintained and carry increased risk to patients.

I'm sorry you weren't able to have your bunch delivered, I can understand how frustraing that must be living so far away from your mum but I can also understand why the policy has come in.

What a shame and how irritating. Don't think it is unreasonable not to realise hospital has banned flowers - they are one of the things that springs to mind when you are visiting someone in hospital.

Unfortunately my MIL is in a hospital with the same policy atm.

Thing is, I get all the inconvenience for the staff thing, and special requirements on eg. transplant wards, but flowers are also A Good Thing; the environment has a very powerful impact on recovery. Hospitals are often quite frightening/dreary places to be and just having something that is attractive to look at can be very helpful. Plus it is an obvious, visual reminder to patients that people are thinking of them and care about them.

Plants are sometimes more acceptable where flowers are not but tbh, we've had so many occasions when a member of my family has been in hospital and have carried a bug out with them, that we routinely bin anything that has been in hospital with them with the exception of pyjmamas etc (which are changed daily and washed on 60c). It's so easy to pick up an infection in hospital. Flowers although pretty to look at just add to the risk especially as they're often taken home with the patients.

adath, the differences are clear a) flowers can be dangerous to some patients (and we don't know what sort of ward the Op's mother was on), b)there is a world of difference between handing over a few cards, and having to find a vase, fill it, balance it on a locker or one of those bed-tables, cahnge the water when it gets smelly/ low, wipe up after someone has knocked it over....

In the "old days" each ward used to have a clerk whose duties would include sorting and distributing mail, and there would be enough nurses/ auxiliaries around to help with flowers etc. These days, even without the potential infection risk, staff are short- would you rather a nurse handed out the drugs, or arranged the flowers?

And, as for the argument that we've been doing it for years....well it is only recently that visitors have been asked to use alcohol rub- do you think that that is wrong as well?

I think YABU - you should have checked with the hopsital first that it was okay to send something along. This is hayfever season and other patients may suffer allergies that could hamper their recovery.

I hope your mum gets better soon. Can you re-arrange the delivery for another date for when she is back at home?

I've never really had occasion to either wonder about the health risks posed by flowers, or been in a position where I've been thinking of taking them in.

However, was recently in Addenbrookes in Cambridge (twice) and amongst their foyer shops (which includes a "fast food" court complete with Burger King, a "pie" shop & similar) is a well stocked florist. Now I can just about accept the rather hypocritical (some might say) idea of a hospital playing host to Burger King (which is hardly healthy) if you use the argument that visitors may want to eat, but I don't expect the florist is there so the same visitors can pick themselves up a posy on their way home do you ?

In fact, I'm pretty sure that during both stays (on a general surgery ward) other patients had flowers.

If this is the case in Addenbrookes, how come their flowers aren't an infection risk, but at other hospitals (specialist care wards excluded) they are considered to be so ?