Disgusting hospital

I had a 4 day stay in hospital, was beyond awful, I discharged myself on the end. The elderly lady in the bed next to me was left unfed as she couldn't lift the spoon, the cleaner actually helped her eat, and one night when she called out for help was ignored for over half a hour, the nurse actually screamed in her face and told her to shut the f up and stop disturbing the nurses, the cups were filthy and the showers were covered in blood smears, poo smears ect. I reported everything as did another lady on the ward. I also had all my babies at the same hospital one was a 4 night stay and was the exact opposite, clean ward, caring staff, nothing was too much trouble for them

Reading this thread makes me so angry. Nurses should not be treating patients this way.

If you know the names of specific nurses, you can report them to the NMC.

And I hope some of the nurses on Mumsnet are cr**ping themselves right now reading this because they know they are guilty.

This sounds awful. Must depend on the hospital. My son had an operation this year and I thought everything was excellent.

Definitely PALS complaint when you feel
up to it.

I’ve got PTSD from a 40-hour stay in A&E last year. Local hospital, and will avoid going back at all costs. Not ideal as I have stage IV cancer & there have been times when everyone has been very keen for me to go back to A&E. I’ve also got the Swiss solution up my sleeve.

I’m being treated at the Royal Marsden now but they don’t have an A&E department. Haven’t stayed in yet but I pray to god it would be better.

I think I made 3 separate complaints about my care & they were investigated & they said some things were put in place to ensure they didn’t happen to other patients, but I don’t believe them really. Failing hospital, failing hospital trust & in one of the poorest areas of the country.

I've worked in both NHS and private hospitals and have to say I also find the assumption that care is exemplary and staff are never rude quite odd. Sure the company has more of a vested interest in maintaining high standards and challenging poor staff behaviour as they might lose business otherwise; but I certainly saw some outrageous things. Patient facilities were universally better though, but that's to be expected when the buildings are invested in and not left to crumble. Sadly the government are complicit in the erosion of patient care, sure attitudes are the responsibility of the individual, but when you're working far under safe staffing levels you're more likely to get poor care and rudeness from exhausted and burnt out staff.

Yes you should complain if the attitude of staff was inappropriate, sadly as healthcare professionals are human some are horrible people, they shouldn't be in these roles if they treat people badly when they're poorly and arguably at their most vulnerable though. I'm not surprised you didn't get a side room though. If the patient smelt of poo as they weren't receiving the personal care from staff that they needed that's one thing, but if they refused certain things they can't be forced and its unfortunate.

I had poor care and rudeness in a private hospital.

I get you OP, and everyone else on the thread that said they have been traumatised.

I have PTSD from my first birth experience (EMCS) due to the horrendous hospital care, and I’m now under specialist care for my second pregnancy as I’m so terrified about going back in.

In the last year I’ve lost my dad, a grandparent and my dog. The only one of those to have been treated with an ounce of care and compassion was the dog. My mum is so traumatised by how her husband and mum died she has stashed a pile of pills and a bottle of whiskey in her cupboard so she doesn’t have to suffer the same way.

@CoffeeCantata why do we hate saying this though? Because we have been conditioned not to criticise the nhs and blame all its woes on the tories?

Nothing like my experience ... Ambulance arrived within 30 mins, no wait at the hospital, CT scans, ECGs, and bloods all done. The longest wait was for a bed which I did get within a few hours.

My friends husband recently had major cardiac surgery in a private bupa after being referred from nhs consultant. He was discharged home and bluelighted back to nhs A&E within the hour of being home, remained in for 2-3weeks very unwell. Nhs horrified he was discharged, BUPA wanted nothing to do with him when they called for info. Private isn’t the easy answer

Mostly lovely staff at my local hospital, but there are a contingent of male doctors who fob females off with anxiety. I had this recently, even though I had campylobacter and was dehydrated.

Yep. I remember once being on hospitals and the nurses talked loudly all night, bitching about their colleagues.

There was a faulty bed that beeped all night and no effort to fix it.

I was tired and disorientated and worried about my young child, it was the first time I had spent a night away from him.

The doctors wanted to keep me on, but I imsisted on going home the following day.

The NHS are under pressure, but the issues I experienced was just due to a lack of care.

I spent 8 nights in Airedale General Hospital in July this year. All the staff were absolutely brilliant.

Report to PALS so that it is on record

Not getting a side room though I’m not surprised by as these are usually reserved for special cases

I can empathise. I hate saying this, but it's often the things which aren't related to money/funding that I've had problems with in hospitals.

Yes, nurses loudly talking and laughing around the Nurses' Station - not professional at any time, but unbelievable at night. I've seen this go on while patients in pain or distress are ignored.

Just a reluctance to be kind - a smile, a reassuring word when people are scared or in pain - doesn't cost anything. I've had nurses bark at me, not make eye contact and then leave me in an uncomfortable position for 45 mins while doing a dressing (disappeared without any explanation). No apology or explanation when they returned.

I've also witnessed horrible sarcasm to old people when they thought no-one was around (it was my poor old mum, and I was actually just behind a curtain at the time). She was a gentle, undemanding person and had just asked a simple question - got a vile answer.

And lots more. I get the NHS is in a mess, but funding is only one of its problems. There seems to be a pervasive culture with some staff of unprofessional behaviour.

My visits to amazing hospitals like GOSH or the Royal Marsden were where I encoutered excellent professional standards - so why can't all hospitals be like this?

I’ve had good and bad experiences in both. In NHS, the aftercare by nurses was not good once, but in a private hospital, they clinical expertise was not so good. No where near, and that is what matters most.

But my experience is not yours. Do complain everyone, but also know that NHS staff mostly haven’t stopped since the pandemic, are exhausted, and demoralised. The claps on the doorstep aren’t paying their bills. The public, post pandemic, are ruder and more demanding. The staff need better pay and conditions, but cannot secure what is needed. Due to Brexit, immigration rules, having to pay to do a nursing degree, there are thousands of open positions and they are under staffed.

I've currently got a complaint ongoing with my local hospital, over the way DH (who died in there), was treated.

I found out who the "head guy" was, and sent a post/stamp letter detailing everything, copying in PALS.

They phoned me last week, to say they had launched an enquiry.

None of my complaint could be excused by funding/shortages etc - it was simply about attitude and caring.🙁

Some of these experiences are shocking and I’m sorry that people have had to go through this.
But private healthcare is a whole different beast. The patients that go for private surgery tend to be pretty well otherwise, don’t have dementia, they don’t have serious mental illness, don’t bring their whole demanding noisy family in to sit there on phones, and they always have a nice home ready to be discharged to. If you could get private healthcare for emergency care or highly complex surgery then the prices would be extortionate.

YABU to complain about the smell of food in hospitals. That’s a minor factor.
it would be the level of care you receive that’s the important thing to consider.

I’ve stayed in hospital 3-4 nights twice in the last couple of years and it was fantastic. (St helier hospital, Surrey / outer london).

I’ve also had a stay in private hospital in kensington and it was bit OTT with menus etc and wine lists. Silly really. For me all you need is good care and warm nurses looking after you

Of course it does. Take it out of healthcare. In any workplace do you expect stressed, under resourced staff who don’t usually work in that workplace, and haven’t been able to build a team culture, to work well and have consistent compassion?

Building good cultures takes funding to have sufficient, consistent staffing. People upthread have rightly said that healthcare staff aren’t angels. No they aren’t, they are human and need the right environment to work effectively and compassionately.

And full marks to Southmead where a vulnerable older friend is currently, they cannot be faulted, amazing care, over and beyond, world class (and I've lived in the USA with good medical insurance)

Yes when I stayed on urology , there was a lot of elderly people who were confused. I saw them not being capable of feeding themselves and a tray being put in front of them and taking away uneaten. (I said something but nothing changed) No washing or basic hygiene taking place.
I was in significant pain and asked for a bed pan. I was told I needed to walk to the toilet as it was important to get up. So I dragged my machine to towards the toilet and collapsed mid way injuring myself as I fell. I was then made to feel like I was a bother until they checked my temperature and it was dangerously high. (Maybe 108)