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?

I'm in the private sector and we can't get rid of poor staff either. If the manager sacked the two in our place that are bad, she would struggle to replace them. There's simply not enough RGNs out there.

I dont blame nurses.
DD spent a lot of time in hospital and I did the majority of her care. This ranged from giving meds to changing beds, all her toileting and hygiene, feeding and drinking, chasing bloods and pain meds, taking temps and sorting out drips (not putting them up but monitoring them), measuring urine output and measuring various chemical levels in the urine.

How are nurses going to do this on a 20 bedded oncology ward?
How many nurses on each shift?
Can the actually do the stuff that parents do? What happens to older people who do not have the right to have a carer with them?

I was unable to leave DD unattended for more than an hour at a time maybe once or twice a day at most. Less when we were in the non specialised unit.
David Cameron had a severely disabled child. I think it unlikely he spent any real time in hospital with him or he would be looking at this issue in a different way.

BTW Cameron, if you happen to be reading, maybe you could arrange for parents to get access to food and parking? Just a mad and craaaaazy idea.

I worked yesterday on busy paediatric ward.
started at 7.30am.Had 9 patients to care for,including suicidal teenager,2 day old baby,critically ill boy needing drugs every three hours via a central line so that proceedure very intensive and took two of us half an hour every time,another child needing intravenous infusions plus dressings.....and so it goes on.....
I had one quick 10 min break all shift.missed both unpaid breaks,stayed an hour plus over my shift ending.
Have been doing job for over 20 years.
Nurses now do so many extra tasks that we never did 20 yrs ago.Patients are sicker,paperwork including computer work tht didn't exist back then more numerous,we do intravenous drugs etc that would have been a drs job,daren't miss referrals to other agencies eg social services for fear of another Baby P,attend case conferences,multi disciplinary meetings,etc etc,
The pressure can be relentless,for something between £22 and £32 grand a year.
One mistake and someone can die.

RRR

How patronising to suggest I don't understand the importance of the impression I give.
I am not a nurse, I am a midwife working in a busy MWL unit.

Please share with me your ways of keeping hydrated whilst working. I was only pondering the other day how I could drink without anybody I'm caring for or random people in the corridor seeing me. A refilled 100ml saline bag in my pocket with a giving set attached to have a sip from between rushing between delivery rooms when the corridor was empty perhaps?

For example

• a nurse i'd not met before walking into my room, grabbing my arm and taking my blood pressure at 11pm without uttering a word

• being put to wait behind a curtain and a nurse reading out other patient details (name, address, dob and the condition) to another nurse in the same room where I could clearly hear) - you just wouldn't get away with that kind of breach of confidentiality in another sector

• a doctor examining me after I'd told her I was bleeding heavily while miscarrying and then holding the speculum up to show me the amount of blood and saying "you are bleeding heavily" (no shit, Sherlock)

• a nurse leaving me for an hour in severe pain because she'd forgotten to get me pain relief after saying she would.

• being left all day without food after being admitted

nursenic there's even less whistleblowing in the NHS than in the private sector I blew the whistle once and had to leave my job. The staff just accepted her return. I suggested reporting her, but they just shrugged and considered that it wasn't their place to interfere. She was the way she was and that was that.

Featherbag, I don't know, I'm no expert, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, changeover shift, trainees, whatever, my point is, that whoever, whatever they were, the 'system' doesn't work. I'm sure they were all raring to go, to be of assistance, so why couldn't they?
They also couldn't find my sisters notes, so more inefficiency.

I don't for one second blame the nurses, it seems to be the system they work within

Bad day - use a water cooler or carry a bottle of water with you?

well, in the time it took you to go and make you cup of tea, hide in the kitchen and quickly down a cup of water instead! hows that?

But Sofadweller it is imperative that nurses are always disinterested. All patients should be treated equally and treated the same.

Sauvignon -you mean with indifference!

"How patronising to suggest I don't understand the importance of the impression I give"

so you DO see that its inappropriate to sit at the desk with a hot drink because of how it looks to patients and relatives?

I'm a whistle blower too. Had to change health authorities and developed PTSD from all the victimisation and bullying I experienced. It is their place to interfere but Hiddenhome, you clearly know that and did your best.

You said 'disinterested', that is something to be admired. Did you mean uninterested, Sofa?

Nobody wants to lose their job though. I was lucky because I was only working very low hours due to just returning after having a baby. I easily found another job and left that home to go to another one. For full time workers in the NHS it would probably be more difficult for them to leave if they whistleblew. People are going to put their jobs first tbh. It's wrong, but when you have mortgage to pay and kids to feed what do you do?

I mean even ignoring the complaint letter, there is evidenc on this thread of visitors who were very upset to see their loved one struggling without everything they needed while they could see nurses at the station LOOKING like they were taking it easy (whether they were or not it is NOT the patient's/relatives fault that the nurses didn't take care enough to appear to be taking the job seriously at all times)

still don't get it?

ok.

I drink 4 cups of water as I make my (instant) tea, boiler already hot. Do the public really expect people to go without a drink all day or think thats OK?

Still not really enough in 14 hours is it?

I think the answer is, you need far more staff per shift and nobody wants to pay for that. There is always a direct correlation between good care and higher numbers of staff or lower numbers of patients. That's the way it is. We want nurses to be well educated, but won't pay for it. SENs were a sort of compromise. NVQ training still doesn't produce the type of nurses that SENs used to be.

Nursing is more sophisticated now due to the modern NHS and it's gotten itself into a real tangle trying to cope. When nursing first began all you had to worry about was keeping your patient clean and fed/watered. Now, there's just too much to think about and keep up with. As a nurse, you're expected to be all things and it just doesn't work. I often refuse to answer the phone whilst I'm doing the drugs round. If the carer is too busy to answer it, it doesn't get answered.

Disinterest

Synonyms

Unconcern
Disinterest

Surprised though that given the details of my post, the use of this word appears to be your main concern?

no, the public might appreciate it if you drink your drinks out of sight (it is possible, since you go to the kitchen anway to make your hot drinks, could pour a cold one which can be downed). And look professional and "on duty" when you are on the floor in your department.

Of course they want you to be hydrated but you don't have to do that with a steaming cup/mug sitting at the station!

sitting with a hot drink looks different to a quick slug standing at the water cooler then on with the job. Noone's going to compain about that.

Haven't read the whole thread. DP works at the hospital Cameron was at today. He worked a 14 hr shift today, & will work between 10-14 hr shifts for the next 9 days. The ward is totally understaffed & morale is low, yet the hospital is 'good' because it is in budget - as they don't employ enough staff.

Are nurses not entitled to eat during 12 plus hr shifts either then?
Does anyone think that hungry,thirsty,bursting for the loo type nurses will give good care?
Meal breaks in the NHS are unpaid.

Btw DP carries a thermos flask of coffee that he makes at home in the morning.

and water works better than tea/coffee because you can get more down your gullet in a slug! HTH