To think this A and E situation is not OK?

[user1473282350]

Last Thursday evening I attended our local A and E. I was taken straight to majors and treatment started straight away. Because of what happened I was in a bed (sitting up) right by the nurses station.

A little latter the A and E ward sister spent 45 minutes organising a pizza delivery. Another 25 minutes ordering the pizza online. Then 30 minutes waiting outside the A and E department for pizza, than an hourish eating the damn thing in an A and E side room. It was well over two hours by the time she returned to the nurses station and actually fucking did some of her job (phone back an irate bed manager).

Some of this I could see (the side room was diagonally opposite to my bed). The bit when she was outside I couldn't see, but there were several phonecalls and other staff were having to lie / cover up and then explain that in fact she "wasn't in resus with a patient, she was outside waiting for the pizza".

Most of the staff shared the pizza in the side room, but none seemed to be in longer than 10 -15 minutes.

I'm pretty grumpy about it, because of the extra pressure it put on other staff who were working their socks off. Would it be unreasonable to add it to my feedback (which is overall mostly positive)?

Oh! I'm really sorry that providing an emergency response service in a challenging environment is not enough expertise when conversing with a lay person about whether the sister was right or not to order dominos....

User(numbers) - you have the terminology down very well for a layperson.

If it impacted on your care, absolutely complain. Otherwise, you're not her line manager, don't try and manage her.

I thought code red was for first response and paramedics ??

OP the reason there was NOT a consultant on duty during the night is because that is a job for the junior doctors!!!!!!!
The ones that save lives 24/7 working nights and weekends, just like my DD who works in A&E.
She works 90 hours a week for 24k and you begrudge a sister ordering pizza in for the Junior doctors and nurses sharing a pizza????
Shame on you.

Sorry user you are bang out of order and making a lot of assumptions here on what was and was not happening, in this sisters shift. Did you at any point speak to her or where you to busy watching her making up your own ideas of what she was doing.

If you were that ill in majors im surprised you were taking such a great interest in what they were and wern't doing. Did it harm you or causing problems for your treatment you recieved, if not then i suggest you keep your opinions and assumptions to yourself. Our drs and nurses are worth their weight in gold of the hours they work and what is expected of them.

I really value the NHS.
But no, not all Drs and nurses are good at their job or behave appropriately.

CinderellaRockefeller No where have I ever said I am a lay person - that was an assumption made by other users.

birdladyfromhomealone If you had read all of my posts you will see the reason I was concerned was the fact that she was putting on the other members of staff and they were having to lie to cover up for where she was to other departments. I have no issue with their not being a consultant there overnight - if you go and read the post you will see that I said there was no one senior there for the junior doctors to speak to about the situation at that time. Please don't try and turn my posts into an anti-junior doctor mission - it isn't at all - I am trying to do right by all the staff in that department and not just the potentially lazy, slacking one.

twitchypalm I'll let the doctors make the medical decision and their decision was that yes I was ill enough to be there.

To people who asked about did it effect my care - it was stressing out one of the doctors and one of the nurses treating me - and it probably delayed me getting a bed on a ward.

You do seem to have seen quite a lot, considering how ill you were. And if she was spending three hours fucking about and stressing everyone else out, I'm sure they were able to speak up about it.

And how did it delay you getting a bed when your OP said that you knew what was happening because you saw it from your bed?

I was in A&E recently with a friend. A nurse offered one of the junior doctors an opiate for her sore neck. In the manner of offering a smartie. so professional.

Funny thread.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta If you re-read that sentence you'll see it says "bed on a ward" - I did have a bed in A and E from the very start. They are two different things.

OrangesAreTheOnlyFruit I wonder who prescribed that! Kind of the nurse...

You didn't answer anything else though - if she was fucking about for three hours, and her colleagues had to cover her work then that is for them to deal with. It honestly has nothing to do with you. How does it even take three hours to arrange pizza?

You only think that it delayed getting you a bed on the ward.

You must have been seriously ill in the first place, and yet you managed to perform a time and motion study on the nurse?

Seriously let people complain who have a legitimate grievance, don't waste anyone's time with something this ridiculous.

And I'm not one of those who thinks all medical professionals are angels but you are making way too much of this.

DP used to love delivering pizza to the hospital. They were always such generous tippers and very grateful to see him.

I can't imagine why anyone would begrudge some of the hardest working people in the UK a pizza. Plus, have you tried organising pizza for more than 2 people? I'm amazed they kept that stage down to 45 minutes.

Is it possible that due to OP's dangerous and urgent medical situation she/he may have been hallucinating or have been suffering from altered perception? 45 minutes to order a pizza? Not possible on any planet. There's either something deeply wrong with this whole story or.........

How does it even take three hours to arrange pizza? I don't know. Do you not understand that is what concerns me? The amount of time it took and the amount of time that left the other members of staff without her, lying for her and her not doing her job?

It's hard not to notice what is going on around you when you are in a fucking A and E unit - it's not like there is much else you can do. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't have the cubicle curtains closed, I was watching time go past for medication IVs to end, etc. It's not like you can stick on the TV or anything.

Anyways, it's on the feedback form on the anything that could be improved section and it has been submitted.

Don't report this...the NHS do a bloody amazing job

Yes, they do, but it doesn't mean that NHS staff shouldn't be reported when they fall short. They are not all living saints, and yes, there are some lazy sods amongst them. When I was with DS in a children's ward, it was noticeable that at times the parents on the ward were doing most of the care (including care of other children!) whilst the nurses were sitting around chatting and watching TV.

As for all the people trying to pick this apart and question it: you really don't know what you're talking about. It is perfectly possible to be seriously ill but compos mentis enough to notice this sort of thing, particularly when your bed is placed very close and you don't have anything else to do except lie there.

I can't imagine why anyone would begrudge some of the hardest working people in the UK a pizza.

Where has OP said that she begrudges that? PP do seem to be utterly determined to find a reason to criticise, to the extent of making up things she hasn't said.

If she was a ward or bed manager for the shift then she wouldn't have been doing much of the clinical side of things to be fair. Whenever I have to visit a ward manager they are usually to be found in the office unless it's handover time.

Likewise, when there are staff shortages, overtime being done and everyone pulling together it is quite normal for pizza to be ordered as a morale boost for the team. I have seen this from front line staff right up to senior managers and execs who have had to stay round the clock to sort a crisis.

You have no way of knowing, if she was at the desk, that she wasn't checking notes and results. Ok standing outside waiting for 30 minutes is a bit odd - surely you'd just go 5 minutes before its due? But unless your care or the care of others in the department was severely affected then there's not really much to complain about.

At best you'll get a sorry and the staff will be asked to be more discreet. At worst they will be banned from ordering food in future which could end up in hungry, grumpy staff with low morale who don't want to do extra shifts and overtime.

I love ordering a pizza on a night shift. We rarely have time to do it but when we do its worth it.

Even better was the family who bought us all pizza one night. Such a nice thing to do.

I have worked in many different healthcare environments and whilst most of my colleagues have been extremely professional, there were a few lazy sods amongst them, as there are in any workplace. However, I have never worked anywhere where a member of staff has dared to take a three whole hours out of their shift to "organise", order and eat a Pizza and if they did they would definitely have been challenged by their colleagues. I find it odd that none of the other nurses or medics on shift had anything to say about this but perhaps as this Nurse was in a Senior Role they felt unable to do so.

Having been a Nurse myself, I know that there a small (but increasing) number of patients who feel the need to sit there monitoring every move staff make, scrutinising the tiniest detail, hoping to 'catch them out' and find something to complain about. It's these patients (the kind who get straight on the phone to PALS complaining about "lazy nurses" because they've clocked you enjoying the only cup of tea you've managed to drink during your 13 hour shift), that make me glad I've left the profession. But three fucking hours fannying about with a food order while your colleagues are running around like blue-arsed flies isn't trivial, it's a serious lack of professionalism and an abuse of her authority as ward Sister. If it went down exactly as the OP says then the Nurse concerned was absolutely taking the piss and should be pulled up on it.

OP- the sister in charge was not the only one eating the pizza by the sounds of it? So im sure her team mates didnt mind covering for her whilst she ordered their midnight snack! What makes you think the other staff members were pissed off by her getting everyones pizza?? How do you know she was 30 mins outside waiting for the pizza and not actually in resus with a sick patient?

Anyways, it's on the feedback form on the anything that could be improved section and it has been submitted.

So why bother asking for MN opinions then?
You didn't bother listening to the majority?
WELL DONE TO YOU!
again I say Shame on you.