Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder if geriatric and psychiatric patients should be put onto specialist wards

136 replies

hardhatdonned · 11/04/2011 20:54

I'm just watching dispatches and pairing it up with my own experiences of being a hospital in-patient several times I am wondering if IABU to wonder if geratric psych and psychiatric patients in general should NOT be placed on general wards with other non-psych patients? I had the misfortune of being on a mixed ward after two operations mixed in terms of gender and mixed in terms of psychiatric history and age - basically a general surgical ward and whilst recovering from quite serious surgery was witness to bed blocking dementia patients who required quite intensive specialist care from non-surgical wards.

IABU and selfish aren't i. But it really is distressing and upsetting when you're at your most vunerable. The rational side of me says IABU because everyone deserves fair and equal treatment but then part of me is petrified of ever being stuck on a ward with several patients with dementia again Blush terrible isnt it.

OP posts:
Newgolddream · 11/04/2011 21:46

onceami - ok - but what happens when someone who is a psychiatric inpatient needs surgery or general medical care? They have to go to a general hospital of course. Psychiatric patients still have heart problems, asthma attacks etc, plus need operations etc. Speaking as a Mental Health Nurse I have seen numerous patients rushed back to us in the acute mental health wards far before they are ready for transfer as well.

Alouiseg · 11/04/2011 21:47

Totally agree with Mamatomany

QuincyMincemeat · 11/04/2011 21:48

I've always wanted to be a real nurse ismene but don't like the sight of blood. Grin

Sirzy · 11/04/2011 21:49

The only reason they should be on specialist wards is if that is what is best for the patient. Sometimes they need the care of a medical ward rather than a psychiatric ward, if there condition means they disturb other patients then they should be given a side room if that is possible.

Re Dementia I agree with you blueberrysmoothie (and probably others, I have only scanned the thread!)

bubblecoral · 11/04/2011 21:49

HardHat, I know exactly what you mean and I can't believe the responses you have recieved.

It seems you can't say anything on MN without upsetting someone.

As I gather it, your point is that people who are in a vulnerable position because of poor physical health or recent surgery should not be exposed tp patients who through no fault of their own make excessive noise or behave in a way that is distressing for others.

Nor should patients that are in need of mental heathcare be in a position where their mental health needs cannot be adequately met, or where they find a situation so distressing that they display behaviour that could be upsetting for others to witness.

What's not to understand? It seems quite simple to me. It has been acknowledged more than once that there are no easy answers, but does that mean it can't be talked about at all?

Alouiseg · 11/04/2011 21:50

QuincyMincemeat - you see the sharp end of mental health, what improvements would you like to see?

Original poster
hardhatdonned · 11/04/2011 21:51

Thankyou bubblecoral you've summised exactly what i am trying to say :)

OP posts:
Quattrocento · 11/04/2011 21:51

All wards are utterly demeaning

Went on one myself. Hated everyone there with a passion. Young, old, fat, thin, mentally ill, feeble-minded. The lack of privacy was just debasing, the food was terrible, the nursing care was inadequate, the doctors were clearly sleepwalking, and it was impossible either to sleep or rest ...

Wards are bad news for ill people. In fact I think hospitals are bad news for ill people

stealthcat · 11/04/2011 21:56

How are you defining a ward? In the area that I live in all inpatient areas are called wards - they vary from wards with 6 bedded bays and side rooms to wards with all individual en-suite rooms. What would you replace them with?

Ismene · 11/04/2011 21:56

I can't do sputum myself Quincy Grin

Bubblecoral, can we also have a ward for people who act like arses and make excessive noise and behave in a way that is distressing for others because of their general arseness?

QuincyMincemeat · 11/04/2011 21:56

more money. more staff. we are a Cinderella service, always have been always will be.

I think general nurses do need more training with regards to mental health, and perhaps regular mandatory updates.
I agree that dementia patients need specialist care away from the general ward environment, but for their own safety and well being, not because they piss people off.

QuincyMincemeat · 11/04/2011 21:59

oh ismene did placement on chest ward. was drowning in the stuff. Grin

stealthcat · 11/04/2011 21:59

It is also the case that confusion in people with physical health problems isnt that unusual, and occurs even in people without a diagnosis of dementia or a previous psychiatric history.

Alouiseg · 11/04/2011 22:01

The health service just isn't sustainable in it's present form, we are all living far too long and costing far too much.

Ismene · 11/04/2011 22:04

I can handle anything but sputum. Anything. I'm particularly thinking of a being charge nurse of a nightshift that combined 14 patients with dementia and a sudden norovirus outbreak. Now that was messy. I could have certainly done with more staff that night!

stealthcat, you make a very good point about acute confusion!

compo · 11/04/2011 22:06

There are psychiatric wards and hospitals though
but I guess you have to go tk a general hospital first before being referred to one
I went recently to a psychiatric hospital
it was terrifying
lack of security
ranting and raving man outside front door drinking lager
was scary

Ismene · 11/04/2011 22:10

You don't have to go to a general hospital first compo, you can access admission through community services, mental health act assessment or police for example.

QuincyMincemeat · 11/04/2011 22:10

good point stealthcat

NettoSuperstar · 11/04/2011 22:12

You wouldn't want to come near me then QuincyMincemeat, I have brittle asthma and am queen of sputumGrin I had to tell the Drs receptionist what was in the sample pot last week, as she was looking for urine and was convinced it was empty!

About the pissed off thing though.
When I was in hospital, I was pissed off, not with the lady with dementia, but with the system.
She wouldn't leave me alone, peed all over the floor repeatedly so the rest of us had to wear shoes and walk through it/push our drips through it, and was upset and trying to pack her stuff in the bin and go home.

Now, in my normal life it wouldn't faze me, I'd have chatted to her, comforted her, helped her in the loo, whatever it took, but when I'm in a bed, barely able to breathe, terrified about what's going to happen to me, and worried about DD (I'm a lone parent), it just wasn't acceptable, not for me, not for the other patients and certainly not for the lady with dementia who needed more care and support than she got on that ward.

Kallista · 11/04/2011 22:15

ANYONE can get post op acute confusion OP :). As a 'psych' patient, a care worker, and granddaughter of a dementia sufferer i think it would be best to put all the moany demanding prejudiced ungrateful patients together so no-one else has to put up with them.

Alouiseg · 11/04/2011 22:15

Pee, on the floor??? That wasn't cleaned up immediately?! I really don't want to get hospitalised.

Original poster
hardhatdonned · 11/04/2011 22:17

You'd be suprised by some of thing things that get left unattended in hospitals

I do wonder if people are just reading the title of the thread and responding now and not reading the actual thread.

OP posts:
Alouiseg · 11/04/2011 22:17

And if I do, I am NOT going on a ward. Sharing a toilet or bathroom or anything with other unwell people. I don't care if they're mentally or physically ill. It sounds barbaric for all concerned.

SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 11/04/2011 22:19

Quincey...for some reason the idea of a depressed nun is very upsetting. Sad

NettoSuperstar · 11/04/2011 22:22

Nope, it was cleaned once in the 24 hours I was on that ward, and it was dirty again within 10 minutes of being cleaned.
The lady needed help with toileting but wasn't getting it.

I love the people I work with who have dementia, and as I'm the cleaner the wee/poo doesn't bother me either, but that's when I'm fit and well. It's a different story when I'm ill and vulnerable too.
No one in that ward got the proper care they needed.