How often to phone the ward for an update?

[hopeishere]

If a close relative was in hospital how often would you phone the ward for an update?

DH is currently in and I phoned earlier and they were a bit "why are you not calling him him an update?" The reason I wasn't calling him was I worried he would be asleep or resting and I'd disturb him. So now I feel I can't call again for an update.

I wouldnt call the ward at all if my relative was able to use their own phone.
You'll get more from your DH than a generic "I've just come on shift but he's settled". If he's sleeping he can just not answer.

I also would just call relative as long as they can speak. Wouldn’t call nurses if I didn’t have too.

My DD was in hospital for 2 months last year, I didn't call the ward once. Why would I when I had her number? Very strange unless their illness is such that the can't answer.

I lied. I've just remember that I rang the ward twice on the day she had surgery.

Message him if you are worried he might be asleep then he can call you back

I would also avoid calling the ward if at all possible. The nurses have endless jobs to do and fielding calls from relatives unfortunately is at the bottom of that list. Patient care is and should be the priority not keeping relatives in the loop.

I wouldn't call at all in those circs. I would just communicate with him as and when he could. If there were any major changes the ward would call you.

I would call him for an update before 9pm - when I was in would have been hard to rest in the day as there were checks every hour or so. wouldn't bother the ward unless he's too ill to communicate / there's an emergency.

I would send him a text message and ask him to call when he can. I would only call the ward if he was unable to communicate

Depends on a lot of things. A MH ward, I'd call daily for a handover. A general health ward, depends on how unwell they are- when my dad was post op he had a really bad reaction to morphine and was in no state to tell anyone anything so we communicated with the ward staff, but if all had gone well we'd have spoken directly to him.

My dad was having a tumour removed yesterday and my mum rang the ward twice to check if he had come out and the people answering the phones we're lovely she said as she was really worried about him.

Surely this isn’t a thing anymore unless your relative is unable to speak?

Obviously back in the day of no mobiles and only those expensive over the bed phones (are they still there?) it would be the norm to phone the ward itself.

Can't you text him to see if he's awake and able to chat before calling?

Assuming they weren’t desperately ill and unable to communicate, I would always phone my relative themself rather than the ward. I would much rather risk waking a sleeping DH than taking up the time of a busy nurse who probably wouldn’t be able to tell you much more than ‘he’s comfortable/he’s asleep’

PS hope he’s back to good health soon

They aren't able to give much information over the phone anyway. If your relative has a phone just contact them directly.

Contrary to what PP has said, if the relative has given permission, you will be given any information they have that you ask for.
It's only reasonable to phone if the relative is in surgery, in recovery, doesn't have a phone with them or is incapable of answering or giving coherent information, though.

When dad was in hospital a couple of weeks ago I would ring him and get his version of what was going on...then I'd ring the ward to get the true version. The drs and nurses were lovely and would ring me about updates as dad couldn't be trusted to remember what he was told by them.

Unless they were just out of surgery or in ICU I wouldn't think of phoning the ward. As pp said message him if you don't want to disturb him and he can phone you.

Mind you i know when I was in hospital I was glad of any calls I got even if they did wake me. I had more than enough time to rest and sleep. Phone calls were a welcome diversion

I would think the ward staff would be rolling their eyes about calls from the wife of a compos mentos patient. They can’t update you without your husband’s consent anyway. You cannot bother busy ward staff because your husband might be snoozing.

I was in for six weeks earlier in the year. To my knowledge no one phone the ward for me (I hope they didn't as the staff are way too busy) if I didn't get back to them straight away they knew I was asleep.

They did say I could call anytime and gave me the direct line for the relevant nurses station.

Texting first is a good idea.

When a family member was in hospital I phoned the ward every now and again and was always told they were having a bath

They had lots of baths and not one of them was done by any health care professional...

I’d just phone the person your after easy and simple or send a text if you think they may be resting

Send him a text and get him to call you. Unless someone was unable to talk to me, ICU, surgery etc I wouldn't call a ward.

15+ years ago before everyone had mobiles / mobiles were banned in hospital I could see the point but not any more.