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)?

I did listen to the majority who actually understood the situation, had read all the replies and who were not jumping down my neck saying I am anti-NHS, anti junior doctors etc.

birdlady No shame on me here - I've raised what may be a potential issue and there is nothing wrong with doing that.

What I would like to know is :- If you were on a critical care bed (nearest to the nurses station) and on IV drips after being red- coded in the ward.
HOW did you know the sister was stood outside waiting for the pizza for 30 minutes?
Did you un hook yourself from your fluids and actually see her stood outside and count the minutes she was stood there?
OR do you have special powers that enables you to see through walls and along corridors?
This thread has annoyed me? yes! as my DD works in Kings A&E one of the busiest departments in London and possibly the country and one of her biggest gripes is that she is contracted to work a 12 hour shift but due to a serious lack of junior doctors AND nurses she rarely works less than a 15/16 hour shift.
In that time OP she does not eat, drink, sleep or even have time to wee. Ah but then if you are not eating or drinking there is no need to go to the loo on the NHS time is there?
I sincerely hope that one day you or your family are NOT so critically ill that you ACTUALLY have a reason to give negative feedback.

You seriously need to wind your neck in about your daughters employment on here because you've let the world know she is F1 at Kings, and according to you has seriously crappy work conditions. I'm happy to pass on your feedback about her working conditions to the consultant at Kings A and E if you'd like? If your daughter is this unhappy with her career perhaps she needs to speak to someone personally instead of having her mother ranting about it on a public forum. There's a thing call professionalism.

HOW did you know the sister was stood outside waiting for the pizza for 30 minutes? Because other members staff told me - they were upset about the situation too.

Most likely she was taking so long to find out what everyone wanted and order it BECAUSE she was working in between asking/ordering. Maybe the time she spent on the computer was her actual break time and she was trying to order the best deal to keep the costs down for everyone. Maybe the time she spent in the side room 'eating the pizza' she was actually doing patient notes/on the computer/ filling out forms etc.

I have no doubt nurses slack, I've seen them. But I've also seen them at their best and they are often overworked and expected to do things others in their department are supposed to be doing.

I wouldn't have reported it unless I was sure her behavior impacted someones care which it doesn't sound like it did. If the other nurses are bothered by it then it is up to them to report it but maybe they knew the circumstances of what was actually going on and although some moaned to you about it (completely unprofessional) maybe they were just assuming things too.

I think yabu. My BF is a nurse. Shifts are 14 hrs on average. I think they are supposed to be 12 or 13 but often ends up at 14 after waiting for replacement and writing up handovers. She is supposed to have scheduled breaks that rarely happen. To be honest if one member of staff take time to arrange pizza to be shared you'd be hard pushed to begrudge it. My friend had a part time job which was 2 14 hr shifts and an 8 hour one. This is longer than my 8.30 to 5.00 namby pamby office job.

Another incorrect assumption OP
My DD is not a F1,
Let me explain an F1 is a first year junior doctor after 5 years at med school.
An F2 is a foundation 2nd year junior doctor.
After that ALL doctors are qualified Junior doctors until they become Consultants, normally after 10 to 15 years as a Junior doctor.

You have no idea what the circumstances were, how long she had been working for (despite you assuming you were there for her full shift).

Personally, if it didnt affect me in any way I would not report her or mention it. It is not your job

birdladyfromhomealone Well the salary you posted earlier was in line with an F1 salary.

I understand how junior doctor scales work (my partner is a medic). And a lot of junior doctors become consultants way before 10 to 15 years...

Anyway, this thread wasn't about your daughter or junior doctors.

Thank the lord for Dr Google

LiviaDrusillaAugusta Didn't rip into her at all - despite the fact she's been trying to tear my thread apart. She has given a lot of identifying information out regarding her daughter on a public forum and raised some awful working conditions (not being able to pee for 12 hours), having to save lives 24 hours, seven days a week etc. It is incredibly unwise to do this and doctors are specifically told not to by the GMC and they are given guidance on social media usage. If you think that pointing this out to her was ripping in to her, that's up to you, but perhaps, I was trying to make her think about how detrimental her posts on a public forum could be for her daughter's career.

PortiaCastis I don't need Dr Google - as I've said before my partner is a medic. But there's yet another example of someone coming in here and jumping to conclusions.

This thread was never about her daughter's working conditions, or working conditions of junior doctors, it was about a nurse taking far too long to order a pizza in an A and E setting when she was needed by other members of staff.

But if that becomes an issue, surely that is up to birdlady - its not your responsibility to police what she chooses to post.

You do seem to have an issue with knowing what is your business and what isn't.

And I hope nobody makes a complaint about your partner like you have about this nurse.

It is totally up to birdlady what she posts, but sometimes people get a bit carried away and don't think before they do post - and, I wondered if this was the case given that the working conditions of birdlady's daughter have nothing to do with the nurse taking three hours of pizza time. Unless of course this happened in Kings and birdlady's daughter was one of the members of staff that was having to cover up for this nurse and pick up the slack... For all I know it was birdlady's daughter who complained about it to me.

My partner was adamant that I should make a formal complaint about this, not just fill it out on the "things that could be improved section".

There will be no progress if issues are not raised.

Some nurses take the piss, I was a nurse for 25 years. You get bad apples in every profession, and in almost every ward / department I worked in there would be one lazy fecker.
I have no objections to night staff ordering pizza as it's often the only way they will get anything to eat. However to take that long about it is time wasting. Why did she wait outside for it though? Usually the pizza delivery guy hands it in at reception. Did she smell of fags by any chance?

I would leave it tbh, it's up to her colleagues to grow a pair and report her if she does this sort thing regularly.

So which is it OP

Your first post says 2 hours and now you're saying 3 hours

Ah you are one of those:

OP: AIBU

Posters: YABU

OP: No I'm not and I have made the complaint anyway

What do you mean by medic when you say that your OH is one?

Soubriquet I said over 2 hours in my first post - I didn't add up the minutes. Someone posted later and said it was over 3 hours.

Regardless, I think either is unacceptable.

missyB1 Not sure - she didn't come close to me. I think the hospital in non-smoking though so I don't think she would have been outside smoking? Not sure how that works though.

Mrsmorton Studied Medicine, works as a medic / doctor.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta No over reaction here - a lot of people agreed it was wrong. I read all the responses and as the majority (at that time) agreed with me it went onto the feedback form. There was a clear difference between people who understood what happened and agreed, people who understood what happened and disagreed and people who came in to rip me to pieces for being anti-nhs.

Haven't been aggressive at all. I have had a small group of people trying to rip apart the situation and be adamant I was wrong - make remarks about my personality which are unfounded and incorrect. Have pointed this out and you've kept returning to thread. Move on if you don't like it, pretty simple really.

Omg formal complaint!! Lets hope you do not visit A&E often coz they will all remember u as the one that stuffed up there pizza treat!