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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

...to expect nurses to do something

27 replies

trinity0097 · 13/01/2017 13:23

The lady in the bed next to me is very unstable and fell the other nights so context. The nurse was facing her way trying to put a cannula in me and did not notice the lady had fallen to her knees trying to get out of bed and was stuck. nurse told me to press my buzzer, which I did, but they ignore them for ages, so I had to ask the nurse to shout for help, why didn't she think to do that - an elderly lady has fallen and you are happy for her to stay down!?

The lady opposite me is in a a lot of pain (but used to be a nurse) and then had to go and help her up properly into bed as the young girl who came to help was rolling her eyes at having to help and literally stood the woman up and then didn't do anything else, just walked off. I was stuck with a nurse trying and failing to get a line in me, and I just had a drain in my midriff this morning so can't move much!

I pressed my buzzer this morning as I needed a sick bowl as I started to feel sick and they left my bowl down in the X-Ray dept. Took 40min for someone to come to me :-(

Yet there are staff standing around outside the ward, just not the right staff it seems who answer buzzers!

OP posts:

Fluffy40 · 13/01/2017 13:58

nurses can't lift people from the floor. It's not permitted.

Maybe she could have looked for a hoist ?

GoodGirlGoneWrong · 13/01/2017 14:01

Put your hard hat on op! People will be here shortly telling you it's the NHS and it's free so don't complain.

gamerwidow · 13/01/2017 14:09

That sounds like poor quality care and I don't think any nurses would say otherwise. Nursing like any profession has some fantastic people working in it some who are shit at their job. In this instance I don't think your nurses did their job.

gamerwidow · 13/01/2017 14:10

Should be and some who are

Underthemoonlight · 13/01/2017 14:15

Yabu you don't know the day to day of a staff nurse and the other patients who are poorly. Half the time they are unstaffed for the number of patients

Original poster

trinity0097 · 13/01/2017 14:40

Regardless of being busy I fail to see how you can stand by and see an elderly patient on the floor and not do anything or call for anyone. That is uncaring.

This quality of care from the nurses today as has not been as good as the previous two days/nights where I was very pleased with what they were doing and how they were treating us.

OP posts:

Floralnomad · 13/01/2017 14:43

I'm an ex nurse , OP ask to see the ward manager or unit Matron and voice your concerns to them , that is the only way things will be improved .

Notsowifeymaterial · 13/01/2017 14:46

I imagine the ward was full of doctors, co-ordinators and pharmacists who don't "do" patient care.
It's always left to the hca and sometimes the nurse to answer them. And ime there's only ever one hca who's busy helping someone else or in the middle of a long list of patient care jobs.
I feel for the poor lady. When I worked as a hca the same happened to me. A lady fell by the nurse wouldn't help me as she was taking blood. She hadn't even started yet. The best I could do was get a pillow and reassure here until someone came to help me

Bettyspants · 13/01/2017 14:49

Op I work in the NHS and from whatever view you look at is this is shocking care.

Sallystyle · 13/01/2017 15:07

I'm an HCA and in that case I would shout for immediate help and depending on how bad the fall looks I might even press the emergency buzzer. I would never leave a PT who has fallen over on their own. The care you describe sounds awful. You just don't leave a patient who has fallen over, even if you need to pull the emergency button to get help because you can't leave your other patient. After every fall, no matter how serious we do an immediate set of obs as well.

As for the buzzer, sometimes we do take far too long to answer them. Usually it's only HCAs answering them as nurses are doing drug rounds etc. If they aren't tied up they will get them then, but it is very much our duty. Sometimes I simply can't get to someone any quicker. I hate it, I hate making people wait but I can't be in two places at once. That is mostly always a staffing issue.

Please complain about the fall.

Sallystyle · 13/01/2017 15:14

Yabu you don't know the day to day of a staff nurse and the other patients who are poorly. Half the time they are unstaffed for the number of patients

She really isn't being unreasonable. I have never worked with a nurse who would act that way. I work in all of the wards and A&E so have worked with many nurses, including agency, and never have I see anyone act that way towards a patient who has fallen over. For a start it is basic care and treating patients with decency and respect, and no manager on earth would agree that this nurse behaved acceptably.

There is no excuse for it. This has nothing to do with understaffing.

brummiesue · 13/01/2017 15:21

Do you genuinely think the other nurses were sitting around drinking tea ignoring the buzzer? More than likely everyone else was already busy with other jobs and helped when they could. There arent enough staff to deal with the number of patients at the moment, especially when one patient needs multiple staff to help them. By all means let the ward manager know, the more complaints the more likely they are to do something about it but I expect they - like every other nurse in the nhs - are already well aware of these problems.

DailyFail1 · 13/01/2017 15:25

She was fitting your cannula. You realise that the danger to you is greater if she's distracted, than someone falling but remaining conscious? Your nurse made a judgement call by asking you to press the buzzer.

DesignedForLife · 13/01/2017 15:27

That sounds shocking. My mum was a ward nurse for decades, and she was shocked and angry at the treatment she saw her dad receive in hospital not long ago.

The NHS is wonderful, but not every individual in it. Complain to the ward manager.

Bettyspants · 13/01/2017 15:48

Putting in a cannula isn't a big deal. A potentially hurt patient on the floor would be a priority. Unless actively inserting said cannula once there was a lack of response from the buzzer I would have expected ops nurse to prioritise.

Sallystyle · 13/01/2017 15:57

*A potentially hurt patient on the floor would be a priority. Unless actively inserting said cannula.

Yep.

Original poster

trinity0097 · 13/01/2017 16:03

Pressing the buzzer was a waste of time as the HCA was on a break and the nurse was with me, so no-one else would come to our bay as they are assigned to other bays and they actively ignore anyone not in their assigned bay. Hence why she should have shouted for help immediately, we are opposite the big nurse station so there were 5 people a few metres away that she could have called out to.

To be honest I don't think she is all that great, she gave up on inserting a cannula after 2 attempts, I made a fuss 2 hours later that I still hadn't had my lunchtime drugs as a result. The key things I need are fluids, antibiotics and painkillers, I was without fluids from 10am until just now 4pm)

OP posts:

Babyroobs · 13/01/2017 16:30

The bottom line is that there are just not enough staff on most wards. I don't put cannulas in but had I been doing that and assuming the cannulation wasn't at a crucial point, I would have prioritised the patient on the floor. We are assigned our own team of patients but if we ignored the buzzers of another teams patients we would be in severe trouble with our ward manager. On our unit it is never acceptable to say " he/ she isn't my patient" !!

Floralnomad · 13/01/2017 16:33

I was ward based for 30 years and I've seen plenty of terrible nurses , both registered and HCAs , it seriously makes you wonder why some people enter the profession in the first place .

4men1lady · 13/01/2017 16:43

Priority should be taken..the nurse should of stopped trying to insert the cannula and attend to the fallen lady.

A patient can do a lot of damage i.e. Fracture a bone when initially the fall doesn't look that bad.

A few staff have been known to say bed 12 isn't their patient etc which has resulted in them being reprimanded. Regardless of staff:patient assignment, patients are everyone's responsibility!

Sallystyle · 13/01/2017 16:43

if we ignored the buzzers of another teams patients we would be in severe trouble with our ward manager. On our unit it is never acceptable to say " he/ she isn't my patient" !!

On a couple of wards I have worked on it is very clear that some people ignore the other's side until it's break time where it is understood that you have to answer the other side's bells. If I am not busy and someone else's bell is ringing I will go get it. It's just good team work and it's horrible to not answer a bell if you are free just because it isn't your patient.

4men1lady · 13/01/2017 16:43

X post with babyroobs..

Babyroobs · 13/01/2017 17:11

Unless I am rushed off my feet attending to my own team of patients, I will always try to answer another team's buzzers- it could be someone in severe pain, a patient who had dropped their oxygen mask, someone about to suffer the indignity of wetting themselves as they've had to wait ages for the buzzer to be answered. I always try to ask myself how I would want my relative to be cared for.

Bettyspants · 13/01/2017 18:23

I still do shifts on wards to keep u to date on Ward care and I'm aware that there unfortunately may be a higher level of care given when I'm around by a few(I'm in a senior position). I'm also very aware of the short staffing situation, lack of breaks and those nurses who try desperately to make up the shortfall of some of their colleagues . From what op has stated it's a complete lack of care and prioritising from all members of staff around . I would put your concerns in writting to the hospital 'PALs' department.

Original poster

trinity0097 · 13/01/2017 20:01

The night nurse has come around and introduced herself, I hope she can Impose some order!

The biggest problem is that I am on a bay of 5, 3 of whom really just need to be in a care home or at the most a cottage hospital, not a surgical ward. These types of patients take up a lot more of staff time, as they need bed baths, commodes, are confused, need help feeding. They are not independent enough to go home so have to stay in here being nursed instead.

OP posts:

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