Are patients not washed any more in hospital?

[Shortkiwi]

I am a nurse of over 40yrs plus. My 93 yr old father has been in hospital for a week. We have visited every day and had to wash and shave him in the afternoon or evening because it hasn’t been done. When I asked if he could be showered one evening, for the next day, I think they showered him but without using soap or shampoo, basically hosed him down from what he reported. His hair was definitely not washed. His teeth have not been cleaned without us doing them. Shaving is definitely not on the agenda. When I was a young nurse it was a given that patients were bathed each day, either in the bathroom or in bed. Teeth/dentures were cleaned and male patients shaved. We were admonished if these things weren’t done. Dad’s ward was very quiet today with several nurses chatting at the nurses station. They were very happy to get us any personal items we didn’t have. I just think if it wasn’t for us he wouldn’t be clean. He actually said, through his dementia, how much better he felt today after we showered him and washed his hair and said it would last him for a while! Which it won’t of course!
We had a list, in the old days, in terms of total patient care, in which we had to tick off items of personal hygiene for every patient in both our theory and practice. I’m sad for those that might not have relatives to attend to personal hygiene these days. It has never been discussed that we would do it, it’s just not been done. Basically, we have had to take the initiative. Years ago there were charts and care plans at the end of the bed, now it’s all computerised. I can excuse the 3 days of hell in A&E but not these last 4 days on the ward. My Dad is not mobile unless he has a lot of help and he is confused.

There aren’t care assistants. We and the care homes can’t recruit them. There are better wages to be had elsewhere.

that is terrible,
as a carer i was taught that skin was so important.

Why are you speaking for someone else?
I have a very demanding job too, also involving vulnerable people and it would be a cold day in hell before I labelled them ‘moaners’ for simply asking to be clean or asking for pain relief.

Many of the posts on here are callous and dehumanising - and only reaffirm there are issues with a lack of empathy, kindness and responsibility at the heart of NHS care in some/ many hospitals - it seems you can’t deal with any level of feedback.

Working as a nurse in the NHS had nearly destroyed me. I have given and given to the NHS so I don’t volunteer now and I’m ok with that.

My Dad was in hospital for a number of days in 2018. He wasn’t washed, shaved or ‘looked after’ with regard to personal hygiene in any way. My Mum did that when she visited and became aware that it wasn’t being done by the nurses. There were plenty of nurses on the ward and they spent a huge amount of time chatting by the nurses station. It was very sad and made my Dad feel awful at the time.
My Mum’s friend is now in the same hospital and it is the same. She now smells as she hasn’t been washed at all since arriving.

No one is allowed to talk about that either. For a democracy we seen to have lots of no go areas.

Baby boomers.

the UK population has risen year on year and keeps rising:

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/overviewoftheukpopulation/2020

I recently spent some time with the district nurses and the workload on them too is relentless with so many jobs being passed down to the band 2&3 staff. Its awful in all aspects of nursing at the minute.

It’s nice you are volunteering everyone else for a role you won’t do yourself.

I had the same when my Dad was in hospital. The lack of care was utterly shocking. I went and found a wheelchair and took him for regular showers and kept him spruced.

Like you, lots of times there were plenty of nurses at the nurses station but absolutely zero patient care. Meals left uneaten, and I even found medication that had just been left on the tray in the assumption that the patient would take it without supervision.

Patients were dehumanised.

No definitely not. I’m just saying don’t be naive and think a change of government will change the NHS. Politicians are self serving and short termist because our political system means they have to be that way to succeed. No I don’t have the answer- no one does.

and particularly in my area there is a high amount of elderly, outstripping the younger people many come to retire here. The younger people leave as it’s a rural area so they go to the cities so it’s not just pay etc it’s the fact there just isn’t enough young people to do the job.

robots is my answer, those who want to remain at home are given a robot who can meet their needs, they would have a wrist band for trouble shooting. Those who still wish to work in a caring capacity are then freed up to provide the human side of company

@lacey79 they want a more hospital at home structure but don’t actually provide the staff to facilitate it. We cover a wide rural area and if we are visiting someone in a certain area we can be off the floor for an hour and a half and that just ti visit one patient

actually as a community carer, one particularly family were always asking for the dm to have a shower but it was hardley ever done
<<she refused>> was written in the notes.
cajoling is needed, although lack of time makes a carers job excessively difficult

No I actually did the job gave multiple years of my life to it and if you read my post I still are working in healthcare just not at the bedside. So how dare you say it’s a job I wouldn’t do myself. The NHS at the moment is trench welfare and people are leaving in droves. We can sit her and complain on Mumsnet or maybe we can retrain as HCA or volunteer at our local hospital. But no it’s much easier to sit here and bash nurses and HCAs without having any real understanding of the situation that are in

I went into a lot of bilateral leg ulcers, we would be there over an hour doing 3 layer compression and be allocated 30 minutes, thats just not doable. I went for research purposes and the reality of the job was shocking. Hospital at home is actually a great idea in theory, but as you say, again, its the staffing issues. Everything boils down to that.

That's so sad and upsetting. I know if I was in that position in hospital and needing a wash, I would kill myself before I will lef my family see my body naked. I would be able to tolerate a nurse or hca to do the job because that's part of their job but not a family member.

baby boomers?
what age are these?
not those being cared for i presume?

So many of us with the same story, we can’t all be lying or making it up, can we?

Yet apparently, nurses don’t have time to chat.

@lacey79 yes it can be very time consuming and then we come across those who are non compliant, won’t follow advice given that would help things heal quicker or keep things under control but what can we do other than document

i thought the baby boomers were born in the 1950s?

His whole stay was a shitshow. There was no care. I had to stage a sit in to get him any diagnosis.

My dogs were treated better when they stayed at the vets. In fact, if they treated dogs like my dad was treated, the vet would probably get shut down.

The effect it had on my father was indescribable. He refused to see me for weeks after as he said he couldn’t look me in the eye.