Do you like the idea of ringing a bell leaving hospital after a long time?

[EachandEveryone]

Am I being miserable as it’s a baby ward after all? They are bringing it in for babies that leave after having long stays. Most parents can’t wait to get out the door I just think it’s one more thing to ask them to do. I’ve always associated it with the end of treatment for cancer. Is it a general thing now?

I only know parents who didn’t take their babies home after a long stay, and I don’t think it would be great for them to hear in that situation.

(When other people ring it, I mean)

I think it’s a rubbish idea. I know it’s used for end of treatment for cancer, not for hospital stays in general though. And it would be hated on a baby ward, all the babies will be terrified and screaming rather than clapping and cheering 🙄

I had a baby in nicu and would have hated it. It felt like a prison. I was galloping out of there as soon as we were released. I would have had no interest in a stupid bell.

I work on a nicu and we would never do this. It's a terrible idea.

I had a baby in SCBU and wouldve hated this.
I have friends who didnt get to bring thier babies home- I'd imagine it would be upsetting to hear the bell, whilst you are sat knowing your baby wont ever be going home.

I had a baby in NICU ( luckily a short stay) but I would have hated this. When I was there I was scared, worried and mostly empathetic to to tiny babies and their families who must have been going through hell.

I think it's a terrible idea. Having spent 80 days in nicu with mine it really wouldn't have helped to hear it being rung.

As someone who sat in a side room, crying over her dead son's body whilst listening to others taking their child home, I think it is insensitive.

I probably sound bitter. And maybe I am.

That's not to say I wasn't glad their child was all okay, but it stung my heart even more with that stark contrast.

Horrible idea, not exactly the same but I have been in a hospital situation of having to process bad news whilst in the same area as celebrating patients. It really wasn’t nice.

It's really, really insensitive.

I think the cancer bell is a bad idea considering other people on that ward are terminal so what the hell are special care baby units thinking bringing that in! Very inappropriate and insensitive

Yep, I'd have hated it too

I've only heard of it for cancer treatment.

I think it sounds very insensitive to other parents, especially if it disturbs their very ill baby.

It's supposed to offer hope when you hear it, that others have gone through what you go through and recovered.

But some don't, and some know they won't. I don't like it.

It’s really insensitive. It was bad enough waking up to happy parents and crying but healthy babies on my ward knowing mine was fighting for her life in NICU

I didn't know this was a cancer thing, my dad ended treatment by dying!

awful whatever it's for. Ringing a bell in hospital - ugh.

When we took DD home from SCBU we didn't make a big deal of it at the hospital, would have felt cruel to the other parents we'd gotten to know while we were there.

I loathed that bell when I was having cancer treatment and refused.
It's just a photo opportunity, not compulsory but a bad idea for obvious reasons.

Ugh indeed

We had one on the childrens oncology ward where my little boy stayed. I loved hearing it ring and gave us hope. Other families would come out into the corridor to watch and celebrate that child/baby. Sometimes they rang it when a child passed away too which was heartbreaking. I don’t cry at many things but thinking about the end of treatment bell still makes me sob.

God no. When we finally left hospital with DC (we were only in ten days but felt like a lifetime) I just wanted to put it in the past and get out. I can't think of anything I'd have been less in the mood for than ringing a fucking bell to mark the end of something that I never wanted to be in in the first place and that had caused me trauma symptoms. I think I'd have hit the roof if someone suggested it.

I think you have to be aware that most parents with babies in these units are there under duress essentially, medically, it's a very odd and painful feeling to know that most parents who gave birth on the day you did got to take their babies home the following day whereas two weeks later you're still in the hospital feeling your soul shatter every single day knowing that your baby is legally imprisoned there (despite it being for their own good).

Hearing it ringing would have drawn attention to the fact that other babies got to go home and what an utter complete failure I was to still have my baby there (he was hospitalised for starvation as I didn't make enough milk and nobody believed me until it was almost too late, total lack of education on the part of staff about insufficient supply). Leaving wasn't a cheery 'off we go! Thanks!' thing. It was a 'is this real? Am I actually allowed to have full control over my own child for the first time?' thing.

I appreciate some people want to do it and that's fine but it just feels so unnecessary. So so unnecessary. Few parents are in a celebratory mood when they leave. Most are traumatised that they had to be there at all.

I hate the whole bell thing. Refused to ring it at the end of my chemo treatment as it was:

a) attention seeking
b) tempting fate

Why do we have to make everything such a drama these days?

What a weird idea. They do it for cancer too? How do they know cancer treatment is over?

My husband had cancer treatment for years and even now it's a wait and see situation. At no point was a bell ringing an appropriate response.

Sounds awful to me. A bit forced attention seeking for the patient leaving (not their fault) and horrible for those still wading through debilitating treatments with no end in sight.

Where is this done? I've honestly never heard of it before this thread.