Do nursing staff not wash patients anymore or change sheets?

Hca’s generally change sheets, wash patients unable to wash themselves and move patients from bed chair, when nurses are at computers they are completing all the necessary paperwork often the kind to get their patients discharged with care packages, my nurse friend says this takes up a huge amount of time and half her ward shouldn’t even be in hospital now but they can’t safely discharge

Why on earth can't you change your tshirt with a cannula in

I have an adult child with a chronic illness who has spent time in hospital on many occasions. I agree with you, nursing staff don't seem to assist with washing, bathing, help to clean teeth anymore. A person who has a catheter, and a cannula or 2 can't physically carry out those essentials, but it seemed no one was prepared to assist. Changing a t shirt to feel cleaner wasn't something I could do because of the cannula, so it wasn't done. The basics seem to be forgotten. I hope your daughter recovers soon.

I was in hospital for two weeks all the nurses did was give out the meds and update doctors. My bed was changed once and my dh or a hca took me to shower (not at all for the first week as I couldn’t walk)

@allthingsinmoderation I don’t disagree that you shouldn’t have to ask for basic care for yourself - but in my recent personal experience, it was the only way to get personal care - and if they haven’t provided it so far in OPs daughters stay, it’s probably worth someone stepping in to ask. I did find that the nurses I had were more amenable if it was me requesting my own care rather than when my family stepped in, so that’s why I asked.

I spent 2 1/2 weeks in hospital and cannot fault the care and attention I received. The bed changing was daily and personal hygiene also overseen by the HCAs who also served and collected meal trays. The nurses dispensed medicines, changed dressings,etc. The ward I was on ran like clockwork.

Another with a bad post-natal experience here. Five days in hospital with the same blood stained sheets, it wasn’t just a bit either. One nurse said she’d change them when I asked and then I didn’t see her again! I’ve spent a fair bit of time on various wards. Some were excellent, nurses were clearly very busy. Others were terrible. That postnatal ward was abysmal.

My late wife (same-sex relationship if relevant) spent sometimes lengthy periods in hospital prior to her death. Whenever she was on an oncology ward, visiting was 10am-8pm and I would be permitted onto the ward at 9:30 am to support her with her personal care. While we were in the bathroom, staff would also leave clean sheets and I would change the bed when we returned. It was very much expected that if patients had regular visitors who stayed for a long time those visitors would help, and tbh why wouldn’t you? When your loved one is in hospital you feel so helpless, I was glad of opportunities to actually do something useful.

I hope your daughter makes a swift and full recovery, OP x

can you ask them to give her a wash?

Also my experience. Spent days in my own blood stained sheets. Had an infection. DH had to hunt down the linen cupboard eventually and get them himself.

My sister was in hospital recently for a knee replacement. I took in everything I needed to give her a proper, old-fashioned bed bath.

As you say, the nurses were huddled at the desk, with their computers.

And I wish your DD a speedy recovery too❤️

Yes, this is why the nurses are not helping as much. They are also on skeletal staff levels and have all the medications to hand out, all associated risk assessment to complete, and all the specific health and safety checks to complete for each individual tablet.

There are many reasons why someone may not be able to advocate for themselves in hospital but really she shouldn't have to for basic nursing care in hospital.

Usually in pediatrics the parent is expected to wash their own child but a staff nurse or HCA will change sheets for you on the morning round.

In an adult ward normally sheets are changed or they were years ago! And patients were offered a wash regularly whether bed bath.

I have noticed the standards have really dropped over the years though. Probably due to staff shortages. Please speak up for your DD and ask on her behalf. She deserves to have fresh sheets and a bed bath at the very least if she's bed bound.

Beds should be changed and patients should be aided as needed to wash or be washed. Hcas tend to do of a lot of the cares/obs on many wards. Some trusts have daily rounding where it lists things like this, food given, washes, regular drinks etc they have to tick it each hour or every few hoursz My dad had similar last year too.

Also just because the nurses are on computers doesn’t mean they aren’t working l. The admin/notes/meds etc is all on computer and takes ages and they will have many patients.

It’s no excuse tho so you should ask/complain that she hasn’t had her hygiene needs taken care of.

@OneAmberGoosewhy is it stupid? I was asking to figure out the best course of action, hence then suggesting that her mum asks the nurses. It’s what I had to do when admitted recently - I don’t think it’s stupid to ask if someone is able to ask for assistance.

When I last worked on a ward a few years ago, it was mainly the HCAs who went round helping people wash, change sheets etc. us nurses were doing less and less of this, although I liked to do it because washing a patient helps you assess all kinds of things, such as skin integrity, mobility etc. unfortunately I was sitting at the computer a lot, because more and more we were having all this pointless online paperwork to fill out, which was basically a tick box exercise but we got into trouble if we didn't do it. Glad I got off the wards!

There’s nursing staff and there’s the healthcare. You will not appreciate the staff shortages or the demoralisation / demotivation in the NHS, especially with the current level of shortages. It has got worse recently.

It has become the norm lately for nurses to not help healthcare staff and then be told to ‘organise amongst themselves’. If you have only got 3 or 4 healthcare staff on a typical ward of 30 odd beds it becomes difficult, can you see why? Some of those will be ‘doubles’ , people who can’t even roll themselves and require regular 4 hrly or even 2 hrly turns, with pad changes: perhaps 10 or even 15 on one of those wards will be in that state. Staff are fed up and I’m fed up of the demands and entitlement that sees men twice or three times my weight and half again my height expecting me to be able to ‘just’ lug them over to their chairs on my own- their health is not worth more than mine.

With that kind of workload anyone who is mobile to any degree will be left to themselves. If we don’t get through those with turns we’ll be seeing headlines in the mail about lazy unproductive NHS staff on generous public sector pensions causing pressure sores. We know that and it is not helping us to want to help when we do have an odd spare moment.

Having been left to myself with a dozen patients 4 of whom were doubles and could not even feed themselves recently a senior nurse did tell me that the expectation of daily washes is now unrealistic and sometimes we will not be able to do it.

I also don’t think you quite get what it is to be running around on your feet all day for 12 hours with only 2 half hour breaks actually means in terms of staff exhaustion and morale.

Absolutely shocking! It has been a while since I was in hospital but this is basic hygiene. No wonder there are so many hospital acquired infections.

I can only assume no one is 'shouting' about this because no one is complaining to PALS. Please report to PALS. It will get logged and if enough people do this, then eventually something will get done. The nursing staff won't generally do this, but the HCAs should.

Sorry for the rant, but having experienced care in hospital in a lower to middle income country where healthcare was scarce, this is absolutely 101 basic stuff and my family and colleagues overseas would be horrified by this.

So sorry to hear about your DD @keepswimming38 .

I hope she makes a full recovery 💐

DH spent 6 weeks in hospital last year (heart surgery) and had his sheets changed every few days. He was capable of washing himself most of the time except for a few days after his surgery, so I helped him.

The cleaners came round every day to wipe all surfaces with anti bacterial wipes and clean the floors. This was in Sheffield and Barnsley.

This! I was hospitalised with pneumonia few years ago, more than week I struggled to turn around in the bed , nevermind to advocate myself.

Same, I had to stay in hospital for 6 days after giving birth in a filthy bed (blood, sweat, milk) 😔 my husband kept asking for new sheets and in the end brought stuff from home. I had an infection as well so you would think cleanliness should be prioritised. Horrible experience. The staff were lovely but just didn't have time

Edited to add, I hope your DD is feeling better soon OP, you must be incredibly stressed ❤

What a stupid thing to say.