Do nursing staff not wash patients anymore or change sheets?

Nonsense. Sheets can be changed while the patient remains in bed.

I have an adult disabled child so have spent too much time in different hospitals during his lifetime.

The sheets should be changed regularly and patient washed every day. Reality is it depends on the ward and how many staff they have.

We’ve been on wards that run like clockwork and are very efficient. However, we’ve also been on wards where staff are run off their feet giving meds or changing dressing etc, then the HCAs are taking obs and neither have time to change sheets.

As parents, you are expected to attend to personal care yourselves and that includes changing sheets. We are very experienced in rolling our son (without hurting our backs) but I would imagine most parents would not know where to start without taking the patient out of bed.

OP, I hope your daughter gets better soon.

So I'm supposed to take a t shirt over a cannula that is sending insulin, saline solution and possibly antibiotics into a vein, and then what! I can't dismantle the cannula can I!? I can't stop any of the life saving fluids going into the body. What is so hard to understand about that?

When the ll in hospital you shouldn’t need to ‘advocate for yourself’. Proper care including sheet changes and personal hygiene should be given by default.

It’s not the culture in UK healthcare to just expect relatives to do personal and housekeeping care. To do so is a lapse in standards, unless it’s been pre arranged with a relative that they want to do so.

The time on the ward is very limited to do basic nursing compared to a few years ago.

Totally depends on the ward I’ve found. I’ve got a relative who has frequent hospital stays and the care she receives depends on the ward she ends up on. Some she is washed and nighties changed and hair brushed, but one ward in particular she is more or left abandoned by the nurses and seems to get no personal care at all.

Then its probably too stressful to move her.

Because they’re nurses/HCAs and you’d think caring for their patients would be part of their job. Someone should be changing the sheets, gowns etc.

She absolutely should be washed and the bedding changed.

Go to the nurses station, and ask them to explain to you why it is not being done regularly.

On a thread where a mother who is sick with worry about her daughter who is in hospital with meningitis a compassionate and kind tone would be appropriate. You post comes across as judgmental and harsh even if you perhaps didn't intend this. Lots of other posters picked up on your unkind sounding post so rather than keep defending it, acknowledge to yourself that it missed the mark.

It is stupid because OP's daughter has meningitis. Do you not realise what a serious illness that is?

Nursing care sure isn’t what it used to be. I’ve seen rolled up pillows being squashed into pillow cases and apparently this is considered acceptable for use as a pillow. A lot of staff don’t want to do the personal care or other care duties but happily take the wages. Some can’t be arsed to show a little bit of care and compassion. The food they serve in hospitals is shit poor and not good for people with conditions such as heart failure and diabetes. Vulnerable people really are vulnerable when they go into hospital nowadays.

In Scotland they do, mostly by the HCAs but the nurses usually pitch in too.

In England not so much, my dad was admitted having had a TIA and was given no help at all to shower or to eat. I don't know about a bed bath. This was 5 years ago so hopefully things have improved..

Talk to them op, maybe they think she can’t manage the movement and it has to be organised sadly yes she may have been overlooked, I doubt it’s that nurses don’t wash or change sheets

Let’s not forget what healthcare staff are paid as well. The same as kitchen staff and cleaners. I just found this comparison website. https://nhstakehomepaycalculator.co.uk/guides/nhs-band-2-pay-national-living-wage-2026/#band-2-monthly-take-home-pay-2026-27-england

You asked if she was bed bound, yes. But you also made a fairly inconsiderate statement that a 20 year old in hospital with meningitis should be able to advocate for herself.
It's the statement, not the question, people are having a problem with.

staffing issues
i remember a nurse saying there was one commode for the whole ward,
terrible

Assuming it was hooked up to a drip so you wouldn't be able to get your arm out

I wash my patients daily and change sheets. Clean teeth and give the ladies a soap filled shower cap for those who can’t wash their hair in the shower. Also brush teeth and hair. Wishing your DD a speedy recovery.

Yes her family member has stepped in her mother is her family member and she is advocating for her daughter.

Edit to add. I think mum wants to find out what the norms are, should in case she needs to escalate. Also imagine those that don't have a family member to change their sheets and bath them and are way too poorly to ask. Quite sad

On my ward we changed beds daily and everyone was either assisted or prompted to wash daily. It’s basic nursing care to ensure everyone has the opportunity or is offered the help they need.

I was in st Thomas’ a couple of years ago (big teaching hospital - the home of modern nursing practice, Florence Nightengale etc) and I was festering in a dirty hospital gown and bloodied sheets. A matron (or senior sister or whatever the appropriate title is for big boss nurse!) came by the ward and was pretty annoyed at the state of me. She didn’t leave until the HCAs had changed my bed and helped me into a new gown.

i got the impression that keeping patients clean and comfortable is still part of the JD but will be shirked by some if possible.

when my dad was in hospital before he died the only person to offer him a drink outside of meal times was a HCA (once. In two days). He was never offered a wash.

I was left in sheets covered in blood on the postnatal ward too. Also a catheter that was about to overflow when a physio came round with a leaflet and managed to find a staff member who resentfully dealt with it.

I’m very sorry OP to hear that those standards and attitudes seem to be spreading.

I wouldn't expect to for reasons of safety. I'm not trained in lifting techniques, or dealing with cannulas etc. I would not have expected nursing staff to walk in and do my job with no training, I'm not a nurse so should not be expected to be one in a hospital.