AIBU - Chemo in a waiting room.......

[DignityInCare]

I have name changed for this as the story has been on the front page of our local paper and is already starting to hit the national press.

My mom has non-Hodgkin Follocular Lymphoma. It's not terminal but is something she will have to live with for the rest of her life. She was stage 3 when diagnosed so had to have an intensive course of chemo. She is now on a course of follow up chemo which is a bit less intensive.

When she went to the hospital for treatment last week she was given her treatment in a waiting room (ironically sitting directly opposite a Dignity in Care notice board) because the hospital had a bed crisis and the normal treatment room had been converted to a bed ward temporarily. This is an inner waiting room so only accessible to other cancer patients and their families / visitors - but even so, when my mom was having her cannula put it there was someone stood there gawping.

The waiting room was dirty and cramped which meant infection risk and if someone had crashed, they would have had difficulty getting to them. My mom couldn't relax or nap due to feeling so vulnerable in a public area.

The nurses were, by all accounts, doing a sterling job under really difficult conditions - there weren't enough power sockets so they were having to unplug the chemo pumps to plug in the blood pressure monitors (when my mom kicked off about it, they go maintainence down sharpish to put some gang sockets in).

My mom has been going to this and various hospitals for years and years (she has a number of other conditions) and has never had cause to complain before and she in no way blames the doctors and nurses for the situation encountered last week as she thinks they do a wonderful job.

However, the comments on the newspapers Facebook page have really pissed me off (I can't comment myself, so am ranting here instead). People going on about how stretched the NHS is and she should count herself lucky she is even getting treatment (I know I should stop looking but I can't help myself) and that it isn't so bad.

My mom is bolshy confident (as evidenced by the fact that she has taken this to the papers), but after her treatment she was really upset - I've never seen her like that before, even when she was first diagnosed. If it affected her like that, imagine how someone who was much more vulnerable might feel.

Everyone who I have told face to face about the situation is absolutely disgusted, and I am veering towards thinking that the commenters on the newspaper FB feed are just idiots but I need an MN reality check...

AIBU to think that receiving chemo in a waiting room is disgraceful? They could have used one of the day rooms or somewhere else with a door!

AIBU to think that the fact that she is getting the treatment at all is not a reason to be 'thankful' when it is delivered in such a despicable way.

AIBU to think that receiving services from the NHS should not be a race to the bottom and we should damn well speak up.

While they did the best they could despite circumstances, it does show a lack of funding and desperate need for reform on how they schedule and set appointments.

I would be upset if that were my mother, at the same time if she couldn't wait for treatment, I think I'd be glad the doctors improvised best they could and were resourceful enough to give her treatment she needed instead of turning her away.

But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be furious with the way the hospital is run and funded. There is no reason doctors should have to resort to giving treatments in waiting rooms. I can't imagine anyone that has taken a Hippocratic Oath is happy about not being to provide their patients the care they deserve. Hospitals should not be that stretched.

Considering you guys have the shit taxed out of you for these services, you'd think they'd have more money to actually run decent hospitals and places to care for people. Where's all this money actually going towards? It had better not be to line the board or director's pockets.

But what was the alternative OP? It is awful for your, however im glad she got her treatment rather than got turned away.

I am not sure about your chief exec bonus comment, yes he is top dog but won't be getting massive bonuses at all.

Please ignore Facebook commenters. They are always, ALWAYS vile, right-wing, ignorant scumbags.

The alternative is that the senior managers are told its not acceptable and that they need to look at their budgets and prioritise this as much as they can.

Believe me I know there's only limited money. But I also know how money is wasted in the nhs.

I am a nurse in a very busy A and R dept where we have to give treatment in unsuitable areas. Your mum has done the right thing by complaining, I actively encourage people to complain about the fact they are left waiting for hours before getting into cubicle spaces. I even give them the PALS leaflets.

We hate this stuff just as much as you do but there is noting the nurses can do about it, we are forced into giving this kind of inadequate, undignified care. Its stressful for the patient and the nursing staff and it is not safe.

However, the changes need to be made much higher up and into the community. The closing of cottage hospitals, smaller hospitals and lack of funding for social care means beds are blocked within the hospital which patients that are unsafe to go home which then has a knock on effect to most other areas. The huge influx of people to the UK has also had a knock on effect on services and we do not have the infrastructure to support that. Along with our ever increasing older population and increasing sicker middle age population the NHS is stretched.

However, I think the only way to make those in the top realise that this is not acceptable is by going to the papers. Your mum did the right thing and I am sorry it has made her feel so terrible.

I've worked in a clinic before with only three treatment rooms and people can wait for six hours for a room to be available (self referral drop in clinic).

Sometimes people only need a blood test. Rather than make them wait six hours I've given them the option of having the blood test in the waiting room. So far everyone has gone for that option but one day someone will probably complain. I'd possibly get into trouble?? Dunno. Not bothered to be honest. But I'd like to think that a complaint might actually get managers thinking we need more rooms, etc.

forgive the typos!

Completely agree viva - I would add that social services and councils should be highlighted as a source of the issues and shirking their responsibilities to the cost of the nations health.

(That's not bashing sw's btw, it's just highlighting how services are so ground down they're just relieved when the problem cycles onto someone else's budget)

Recently, my DS had to have a plaster cast put on his arm in a corridor in A&E. The poor boy was in agony and, yes, people had a good old gawp. It was like field medicine. And I work there. The NHS is on its knees.

The NHS will continue to be on its knees whilst it is over-used - blame and shame those who over-use GPs and A&E and it gets better for genuine patients

Our waiting room isn't set up correctly for chemo at all - it's just the only available space on Weds mornings. However I agree that the nhs is on its knees. It's been mismanaged for decades with far too much money being spent on the wrong things (NHS IT infrastructure, TPOT initiatives, layers upon layers of middle - non clinical - management). The only people that lose out are the patients.

The NHS will continue to be on its knees whilst it is over-used - blame and shame those who over-use GPs and A&E and it gets better for genuine patients

Bollocks. The NHS isn't over-used. It's under-funded.

It's a double edged sword - it's underfunded and over used. (Did anyone see 24 hours in A&E this week - kiddie went in with hay fever - prime example).

The government keep telling us how much extra money the nhs has - in reality a ridiculous amount is spent on management consultants brought in to improve systems, where actually their reviews make fuck all difference.

Sadly this is the tip of the iceberg. Ok, this Trust is dealing with an overflow from Stafford, but there are a great many people who honestly believe "there but for the grace of God go I". There are a lot of Stafford standard services out there. They just haven't been identified. Yet.

"The NHS isn't something where we should be grateful for whatever crumbs we get. This is a service that we all pay for through direct and indirect taxes."

Couldn't agree more.

The issue this highlights is the rapid loss of beds in the NHS.

The key thing is the waiting room was not set up to deliver treatment cleanly or safely that's before you get to dignity.

The nurses are probably up in arms about it - I have done my job in unsuitable rooms with unsuitable equipment and it was my single biggest frustration when working as a midwife. You are generally forced into it because otherwise the patient gets no care and the consequences of that are far riskier than the lack of facilities.

It's wrong. Utterly wrong.

Thank you to your mum for standing up.