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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Nurses in uniform on public transport

187 replies

sea74 · 23/02/2011 23:33

This is something that makes me crazy.
They talk about nosocomial infections, millions of pounds are spent per year to supply hospitals with hand gel, and then on the way home, you see dozens of nurses on the tube, trains, buses, trams and buses wearing their own uniform from and to work!

Don't they know it should not wore before they arrive in the hospital?

Also midwives do that.

I just cant stand it! They really show they dont care!!!

OP posts:
belgo · 25/02/2011 17:32

It's not just buying the lockers, it's having the space to put them. These things need to be decided at the time when the hospital is being built. I have worked in one of the largest hospitals in Europe and the changing room system worked like clockwork, space to get changed, a locker and a laundry service for all uniforms. So I never had to walk outside with my uniform on.

ednurse · 25/02/2011 17:36

YABU.

A lot of hospitals don't have changing areas and as long as they have a coat/jacket on top it's normally fine.

Plus the cleaners wear 'nurses uniforms' too.

springbokdoc · 25/02/2011 17:47

Seriously handwashing is the most important thing. Not whether a nurse wears her uniform to work. and btw docs do get covered in mank (although i admit less frequently but then it's my own clothes that get poo/vomit/blood on).

The only unit I've worked on that is obsessive about our uniforms is burns - have to change scrubs if we've done a dressing/been to theatre or if we go to the main plastics unit. Everywhere else it's rightly all about washing your hands :)

Canella · 25/02/2011 17:55

I was a physio working on acute wards and intensive care and the thought of going home to my small dc and picking them up with my uniform on makes me feel really sick. But thankfully we had changing facilites so no-one went home in their uniform. It was also a disciplinary offence to have your hair on your collar or to wear a watch or rings. Still didnt make the infection rates any lower!

But i agree with other posters that the changing facilities for some of the nursing staff were non-existant which is disgraceful.

And the doctors were never getting changed.

But there is no chance the NHS will ever provide fresh laundered uniforms for all staff - the cost is just too immense.

MrsGrahamBellForTheSkiSeason · 25/02/2011 18:09

Shocking that there are no changing facilities!!! What happens if the uniform gets soiled early in the shift- ar the staff expected to continue working in it..??? Shock

balloonballs · 25/02/2011 18:18

Yes mrsbell, they make nurses squelch around covered in sick, but their only allowed to work on the children's ward obviously.

unfitmother · 25/02/2011 18:52

If something hideous happens to your uniform, the nurse has to go and get some theatre scubs.
Springbokdoc talks sense above,

Sandra1976 · 25/02/2011 20:21

I know I saw a health worker on the bus today cough and sneeze, in their uniform no less! these people really need to control themselves.

FluffyMuff · 25/02/2011 21:44

yeah, I saw one actually breathing in their uniform.

String 'em up quick.

unfitmother · 25/02/2011 21:56

breathing? - cheeky bitch! Angry

balloonballs · 25/02/2011 21:58

I fecking well hope they had a mask on, no consideration these people.

FluffyMuff · 25/02/2011 22:00

Some people just "don't care"

Hmm Grin
unfitmother · 25/02/2011 22:01

Mask? Couldn't she just hold her breath - she obviously doesn't care! Shock

balloonballs · 25/02/2011 22:09

True unfit, so true.

I think perhaps we should start a campaign.

There's no reason these people should actually leave their workplace endangering all us who pay their wages.

LovestheChaos · 25/02/2011 22:14

There are a few things that you have to remember here.

  1. Carers from nursing homes, beauty therapists and home helpers often where the same uniforms as a nurse but are not one. You shouldn't use the blanket term Nurse to cover everyone who wears a certain uniform
  1. I know my hospital has no changing facilities for nurses. Some hospitals do. Ours do not. We get one uniform and we have to launder it. Sometimes I finish my shift at 10 PM at nite and have to be back at 7AM and I have to launder my uniform before I go to bed.
  1. We don't like wearing our uniforms to and from work either. So we were changing in the supply cupboard. The housekeepers went nuts and we were told never to do it again. So we started changing in the toilets. Once again, housekeeping went apeshit and we were given final warning.

I still try to get away with changing in a cupboard or the toilets because I really hating walking to work in my uniform and getting dirty looks from ignorant twats who should be worried about poor RN to patient ratios not a uniform on the bus.

The kinds of bugs that cause hospital acquired infections are present everywhere. MRSA and CDiff is everywhere. It was on the bus long before the Nurse got onboard. These bugs are in your house, in your supermarket etc. Sick people are just more vulnerable and cannot fight them off.

GeorginaWorsley · 25/02/2011 22:17

No changing facilities at my hospital.
There used to be,but they were turned into classrooms.
I travel in my car to and from work in uniform,but take a change of clothes if I need to stop off anywhere on way home,although after a 12 hr shift,I don't feel like Tesco somehowGrin

LovestheChaos · 25/02/2011 22:19

@ Balloonballs, Your taxes won't even cover the cost of the healthcare you receive over the course of your lifetime unless you are an extremely high earner. That is why ward RNs in this country are on the lowest wages in the developed world and work with the worst RN to patient ratios in the developed world. Overtime goes unpaid with no comp time in lieu and the overtime is often mandatory because of staffing levels.

And maybe if it wasn't for leaches like you the hospitals would be able to afford changing facilities. So glad to have immigrated to a country with changing facilities for Nurses and a bloody good wage along with free and totally comprehensive health care benefits/insurance for me and my whole family.

LovestheChaos · 25/02/2011 22:20

oh you were being sarcastic. Nevermind.

balloonballs · 25/02/2011 22:25

No worries Chaos.Smile

I gave up trying to give sensible answers as the thread just seems to be going round in circles.

balloonballs · 25/02/2011 22:29

But just to check, you don't fancy a campaign to demand these hcp's are locked into their workplace 24/7 in order to protect the public?Wink

LovestheChaos · 25/02/2011 22:31

LOL. Sorry I was so cheeky!!

balloonballs · 25/02/2011 22:37

Cheeky? Not at all, standing up for something you believe in, fair enough.

bumpsnowjustplump · 25/02/2011 22:39

I have just driven around town, then parked my car over the road and walked (yes walked) across the road and into my house all in my uniform.. I have worn it throughout my shift cared for many people while wearing it!!! But I work in the community so that would have been a hell of a lot of changes of clothes I would have had to do to please the op... Wink i however like the idea of locking them up because then i could pinch their job Wink

Stwnsh · 14/06/2018 09:50

You all should stop going on ,how dare you say nurses don’t care you are very ignorant,most of these nurses have no changing rooms or showers and have to do their own laundry,it like that at our hospital changing rooms and showers changed to offices check your facts first before running them down ,of course these bosses now ,where they going to change in one toilet shared between 2 wards ,you are all a disgrace

Stwnsh · 14/06/2018 09:54

What in the hot sun

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