AIBU to think that Cameron is telling nurses to do things that they already do?

[MyNameIsNotNurse]

Or aim to do given the oppertunity.
Link

David Cameron's 'ideas'
Hourly checks on patients to make sure they have had enought to eat/drink and are comefortable.
Isn't this just basic care?
Also to have members of the public doing spot checks on their local hospitals, isn't this just going a bit too far?

I would really like him to do a 12 hour shift on a busy ward, with sick people needing more than just the hourly walk around to make sure that things are ok.
What about the patients who are in need of 15 minute observations. Patients with poor mobility who take more than 30 seconds to get to the toilet and needs assistance every step of the way. What about the drug rounds? Then multiply that by 30 pateints for 2 staff nurses (some with little experiance) If 1 patient is really ill thats 1 nurse down so 30 patients beeing looked after by 1 nurse, and maybe 1 or 2 HCA.

Why does he not discuss the staffing issues, which most wards have the mountains of paper work which each and every nurse has to get through every shift which takes away from the care of patients.
Most nurses I know stay behind to finish paperwork, turn into work when they or their family is not well, go without breaks, work 12hours a shift, do extra shifts and Given up our measily 3% payrise over 3 years.

He's just making a lot of noise saying we should do things we already do in order that the public think we're not doing them and we lose support?

Mrs H, I [and a lot of other posters here] feel saddened that you had such a difficult post natal experience on the maternity ward.

It obviously still makes you very angry.

I wonder if this is why you cannot acknowledge or empathise with the situation outlined by so many qualified staff on this thread who are working in impossible conditions day in and day out.

I really hope if the nurses/midwives on your maternity ward were as lazy and uncaring as you seem to believe that you wrote a formal complaint to management?

But please do not tar all NHS staff with the same brush as that is both ignorant and disrespectful.

Nursenic you haven't suggested anything constructive you've just been nasty continuously.Quite clearly you are immune to criticism.No I've never wanted to be a nurse.I have been a teacher in a profession that continuously has to address poor performance without shutting their ears to it.

Fact many people are fed up with the standards of nursing care and it aint all down to staff levels.You can't bully anybody out of believing this.

Fact there is no money so staffing levels won't be increasing.

Fact the things the op mentioned aren't always happening.

Fact something has to be done done about it so in answer to the op I applaud the suggestions from DC.

How do you suggest they are implemented then on a busy ward? And will someone answer my buzzer question

Rapa sadly my experience is no different than many others on post natal wards as has been highlighted by the thread.

The amount of ignorance and disrespect towards patients on this thread has been no surprise so forgive me if I feel however I want to feel.

If you read the whole thread you'll see I had similar experiences in other deps in other hospitals ie most of my experience of nursing care hasn't been good-drawing on ones experience to make a judgement is not ignorant.

Well, I'm not going to start a debate on falling teaching standards...... i will say though that using 'ain't' as in your previous post gives me some idea as to your standards...

i have offered plenty of constructive comments and supportive comments towards colleagues and other posters on here. I cannot take you seriously though because your story changes according to what is said and by whom.

i have made it quite clear that there are many multi-causal problems with nursing including the way in which students are selected, the distance between the RCN, NMC and jobbing nurses and problems with how 'nursing care' is defined and expectations of it and the way funding is distributed/allocated, whatever you wish to call it, NOT a complete lack of it.

It's obvious that again, by stating " it aint all down to staff levels", that you have either not read what I and other nurses have said and that you are again exercising that 'generalisation' muscle in your head.

How can you claim teachers haven't shut their ears to criticism when your posts make it clear that your ears were sealed shut a long time ago?

So how come nursing care in private hospitals where there is better staffing is so much better? Same training, same qualifications, but better level of care. Often the same staff as people will work p/t in nhs and p/t privately.

I'm sure there are some lazy, nasty nurses and midwives and steps should be taken with those. I do see midwives where there are concerns about their practice then steps are taken quickly. It's treated very seriously. But I do see a small minority of my colleagues who will do anything to avoid working. Unfortunately management ignore this.

I'd like to think the majority of midwives and nurses are dedicated like I am. I don't stop on a shift if there is still stuff to be done, when/if I have the time I will happily sit with someone with breastfeeding problems for as long as it takes, I always give people the buzzer and tell them to buzz if they need anything, babies passing to them if they've had a section, etc.

I do my best however I am aware that a lot of the time people aren't getting the care they ought to have as I don't have enough time. Meds are late, obs are late, I often have to tell a woman how to get a baby to latch on and tell her to try it and that I'll be back in ten minutes to see if she's managed it. It's not good enough but without more staff I don't know what else can be done.

Sorry I think there is an empathy problem too.I'm not alone in thinking this, sorry if that is unpalatable for you but there you go.In my experience empathy is lacking in a way it wasn't before and needs addressing.

This thread hasn't exactly convinced me otherwise.

Is nursing care better in private hospitals?

It wasn't exactly amazing in the one that caused me to be rushed to the NHS hospital down the road.

Drawing on only your own problematic experiences, especially when some of the problems were caused by your own failure to adequately prepare and plan for your post natal practical needs is ignorant. It is not evidence based to then extrapolate your 'findings' to every nurse and every ward, in every hospital all over the UK. Report only the bad, and that is the perception. Plenty of posts here to say the opposite and more importantly to offer constructive debate into what could be done.

Not once have you been able or willing to address questions asking you how it should be done? How would you prioritise?

And debating constructively is not bullying. Challenging your humunguous assumptions, generalisations and extrapolations is not bullying. That's just you failing to cope with being asked difficult questions so you use the equivalent of 'It's not fair...'.

mtsJRT I don't know how buzzers are just ignored indefinitely either, sometimes they ring for a minute until you can get there but never ignored!

Mrsjrt, yes the buzzers where I work go ner, ner till answered. Personally I couldn't ignore one.

Nursenic I won't be the first not to take enough STS to hospital and I doubt I'll be the last.

So anybody that turns up to hospital and forgets items is now ignorant-nice.

Your fury and obsession with forgetting STS is slightly worrying.

I rest my case.

I disagree that empathy is an issue, my experiences on the whole suggest anything but and although there will of course be some staff who dont do empathy, and some who are just down right crap I would have thought to want to enter the career at all you have to have a degree of empathy. I do think the stress for nurses under the current system makes it hard to show the level of empathy they would like to though.

I have had staff members from cleaners to matrons and consultants taking time to be a shoulder to cry on, answer questions in a clear way, help change nappy explosions etc etc. All little things to the patient/relative but important nonetheless. However on a busy ward they are the little things that it is so much harder for the staff to be able to do often. Not the fault of the staff but the fault of the system.

I also think that the patients/relatives attitude does have a massive impact, and if you dont expect things to be done that second (unless genuinely urgent of course!) and you show the basic level of politeness you expect from them it does help make things nicer all around. Some of the ways I have seen staff members being spoken to when DS is in hospital I don't blame any member of staff for struggling to keep on smiling!

This thread is not a hospital. We are debating nursing here. Citing 'lack of empathy' here is daft. We are challenging your assumptions, not nursing you.

As i said earlier. If i had a patient with challenging attitudes to nurse, you would not know by my nursing and demeanour that I had negative feelings about that patient.

Unconditional Positive Regard-they must teach that in Teachers Ed. That is the cornerstone of my nursing practice.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree,I won't be changing my mind until I experience some consistent,excellent nursing care that makes sure all my basic needs are looked after.

Hello over here!

can you answer my question?

Phew thought it was just my unit. I hear them blinking buzzers in my sleep. I'd go as far as to say I do not believe it when people say buzzers (assuming they are of the constant nature) are left unanswered. Yes there might be a delay but not answered at all? Nope.

Oh god no, I'd never judge so quickly, a patient who forgets or has inadequate ST's or other bring from home supplies. BUT you continually whine about the lack of them as 'proof' that nurses lack empathy. Your example is what i am remarking upon and the conclusions you draw from it.

I once had to peel three months worth of ST's off of a severely psychotic patient who just kept piling them on and PUing through them (20 yrs ago, that).
So I have plenty of compassion for the myriad of reasons why people get fraught and caught. Your issue is different.

But here you go, generalising again about what A+B=

Actually a complete lack of empathy suggests being on the psychopathic spectrum

are you suggesting all nurses are psychopaths?

Mrs H - so you are saying midwives are uncaring and useless because of your experience over 8 years ago? And that staffing levels are not part of the problem.

I am a midwife - I have also worked in the NHS for over 20 years and staffing levels are considerably worse than 20 years ago. Some midwives are lazy, uncaring and have an attitude that stinks (thankfully I have not come across many.) I am genuinely sorry that you had poor level of post-natal care - I strive to give the best care I can, sometimes that care is substandard (usually because of too much to do in too little time.) When that happens I feel annoyed, disappointed and frustrated because I do not set out to give poor care.

Last year my daughters teacher was awful, rude, with the personal skills of a gnat. He was lazy and educational standards dropped. I could therefore happily state that "teachers are lazy, rude and with no interpersonal skills", however I do not generalise, her current teacher is fab as are most of the teachers at her school. Why do you generalise that all nurses are the same?

Laughing at the thought of a name change to rage against the ST's

Courtesy of MrsH!

Some of my patients are sociopaths, Boglach....

Nursenic I think you're well aware I listed many reasons why we were appalled, the sts were but one of a whole long list of examples in unsatisfactory care and attitude,I have more sadly.

Is nursing care better in private hospitals - I genuinely don't know? But a friend who had recent major surgery in a private hospital had a terrible time with nursing staff - don't know if theywere qualified or not. She routinely had drinks, etc left out of her reach when she was asleep and couldn't reach them when she woke up. Nobody responded to her calls for help. And t was all made worse by the fact that she was in a single room alone.

Impossible for her to tell in her single room if there was enough staff on duty. But her nursing care was very very poor.

Mrsh do you think nurses are psychopaths?