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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About curtains on hospital wards

203 replies

Bubbinsmakesthree · 06/04/2017 16:42

Currently on post-natal ward, baby in SCBU, recovering from c-section.

I don't mind leaving most of my dignity at the door, i don't mind partners and visitors on the ward.

But is it too much to ask to be allowed the bloody curtain around my bed to be closed?

Matronly midwife seems to have nothing better to do than insisting my curtains are open. Angry

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 07/04/2017 12:46

'I'm lucky enough to be in a position where if we have any more children I'll be paying for a side room, but as it's a paid-for service where I am there will be many women who can't afford that privilege. And I might not even get it if there happen to be no private rooms left on the day.'

It's also not guaranteed. If someone needs the room more than you on the day, you'll be refunded your money and put in the ward.

Darbs76 · 07/04/2017 13:38

Nurses are busy and need to see at a a glance everyone is ok so it's for safety. Surely you're not constantly needing privacy?

expatinscotland · 07/04/2017 13:41

'Surely you're not constantly needing privacy?'

Surely that's for her to decide. It's not the patient's fault if they don't want themselves exposed to randoms all day. How does this 'safety' work in places where all the rooms are private? Weak excuse, really.

GotToGetMyFingerOut · 07/04/2017 13:43

It never happened to me but it really pissed me off when they kept whipping my sister's curtains open. She had had a bad emergency c section. Was ill from an infection. Trying to breastfeed and this mw kept whipping the curtain open as she needed to be able to see for sister's safety
. Despite me being there with her.

Some of them are horrors. Most are amazing.

Photograph · 07/04/2017 14:06

Surely you're not constantly needing privacy?

Yes I do! Would you sign for part-time privacy in your own home?
You are at your most vulnerable in hospitals, you are lying in bed, sometimes in an hospital gown. The very last thing you need is the flipping curtains wide open if you don't want them to be. I want to be able to cry, wince, sleep, stretch, check my bleeding pads without the whole ward to see. I don't want to see the other patients either frankly.

GahBuggerit · 07/04/2017 14:16

Just keep pulling it across when you want privacy, they get the hint eventually, although with ds2 i had to tell them to stop pulling them open or I'd take it further. That worked too.

zzzzz · 07/04/2017 15:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FairytalesAreBullshit · 07/04/2017 15:43

My best story, I was getting meds IV, this nurse was a butcher, no empathy, no bedside manner. She pushed this one med that hurts a lot going in, out of no where no even thinking I said 'Fuck that hurts!' The nurse was absolutely livid, it was like being at school again the telling off I got. Obviously I apologised profusely as I honestly don't know where it came from, she continued having a go. The other patients were having a right giggle at my expense, which I didn't mind.

The next day I try to apologise again and get another telling off about how much abuse nurses get. I tried earnestly to explain it was something that just slipped out due to the pain, but she wasn't having it at all.

Luckily I had some really nice patients on the ward, so it wasn't an issue.

Then I got told there was a shortage of this med so they were only using it in emergencies, yet the woman next but one to me was getting it every 4 hours. Decided not to argue though.

I kept having to close the curtain by this small window next to me, as the sun was annoying me. I'd wake up and it'd be open again.

I remember taking a photo of my notes, as they were the biggest work of fiction ever. Nurses literally writing random numbers in for fluid balance charts. I'd passed over a litre a day apparently, despite not voiding my bladder in all that time.

I got upset and said I wanted to go home as there was no benefit to being in hospital. They were moaning about fluid intake, but I couldn't keep it down. I ended up saying to the Dr, wouldn't it be common sense to put me on IV fluids.

Laniakea · 07/04/2017 15:52

Surely you're not constantly needing privacy?

errrr ... yes I do! I'm not in the habit of inviting troops of people into my bedroom or bathroom. I also expect staff to introduce themselves to me, explain what they are doing & ask permission before doing it. Strangely enough that's what I was taught to do at medical school.

BabychamSocialist · 07/04/2017 16:01

I know you want privacy but in hospital it's a bit unreasonable. It's easier for the nurses to keep a check on people if they have their curtains open. They can just have a quick look down the corridor and do visual observations. If everyone had them closed it would be impossible.

Photograph · 07/04/2017 16:10

I know you want privacy but in hospital it's a bit unreasonable.

I have friends who gave birth in France and Germany, they had private rooms, with a bathroom/toilets in them (one was shocked to have to share a bedroom with another woman, bless Grin )
I know of at least one birthing center/ NHS hospital in this country where patients have private rooms.

Patients privacy is a basic standard, we only have poor excuses to justify treating women like third-class citizens in this country. Recovery room, intensive care are one thing. Communal wards should not exist, and if we can't find the fund to rectify this abomination, we should just let patients keep their damn curtains closed!

Laniakea · 07/04/2017 16:16

Yet the 5 times I've been on post-natal wards I've either had a private room or kept the curtains closed all the time (as did pretty much everyone else). So clearly it can be done.

Albadross · 07/04/2017 16:17

Every time I've had surgery I've been in a perpetual state of anxiety because of all the noise and lights and feeling totally exposed. I have ASD and I've always been made to feel like asking for privacy is somehow deliberately rude to nurses.

Once when I took a guy to hospital who'd taken an overdose, he was left to puke into piss bottles and whatever else I could find in full view of everyone, (as was a guy who was filling bowls with liquid poo every 30 seconds) and they told me I had to empty them and re-use. He wasn't my responsibility but I'm not heartless enough to just leave someone sitting in their own vomit. I think people just accept the lack of dignity because they're too ill to kick up a fuss. It's totally unacceptable.

I also had a camera in my bladder once and was ushered into the room to find about 6 people eagerly awaiting me - because I struggle to advocate for myself I just agreed but I felt so degraded to be lying half naked having strangers who weren't doing anything looking at me. Some of us need privacy for our mental health and that's just as key in anyone's recovery.

Darbs76 · 07/04/2017 16:19

If you want privacy in hospital you have to pay for a private room. Some nurses don't mind curtains being drawn but many do. I've just spent 3wks in hospital and nurses constantly having to explain to patients about this rule - they can't see them from the door and they don't have time to keep popping their head round. It's not ideal but unless you ask for a private room it's a rule and there's not much you can do about. When I said you don't constantly need privacy I mean you're not constantly needing to get dressed or be examined so curtain has to remain open

Photograph · 07/04/2017 16:34

If you want privacy in hospital you have to pay for a private room.

that's not right. We are in 2017 and we are a so-called civilised country, it's not acceptable that any patient is left in tears, without dignity or respect. We are shocked by the stories about "hospital" conditions and treatments of the past, whilst our current set ups are horrendous.

Other countries manage, so clearly it's not asking for the impossible.

We don't even the choice of paying for private rooms! So many patients would be more than happy to do so, but there's nothing available.

We now accept that patients don't have to suffer, it's about time we accept that they don't have to lose all dignity either.

53rdAndBird · 07/04/2017 16:37

When I was on a postnatal ward we were told that curtains had to be open during the day so that the babies could get sunlight for jaundice. You could pull them over during visiting, but not when it was just partners. Which was fun if you didn't want to breastfeed in front of the total arse married to the woman in the next bed.

I did get good care on that ward, but it was annoying that the hospital had moved to single rooms for almost all wards... but not postnatal Hmm

Laniakea · 07/04/2017 16:38

So the curtain has to remain open

But it doesn't. Patients aren't there for the convenience of staff - basic dignity should be maintained. That is actually something HCPs are expected to do - even if itakes more work for them.

GahBuggerit · 07/04/2017 16:43

No, the curtain really doesn't have to remain open. Anyone wanting it shut should stand their ground, threat of complaint also helps Wink

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 07/04/2017 17:13

Zebra obviously I am not suggesting rebuilding every NHS hospital by 2020. However what is equally obvious to me is that certain hospitals prioritise patient dignity and wellbeing much more than others, and some are much better staffed and have a much different culture to others.

As people in Bristol don't pay more NI than the rest of you, I don't really see why we are benefitting from improved care and I am fairly sure that creative solutions can be found to these problems without razing every hospital to the ground.

zzzzz · 07/04/2017 17:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

noeffingidea · 07/04/2017 17:40

babycham it might be easier for the nurses to keep a check on people if the curtains are open.
So fucking what. Patients shouldn't have to suffer just to make things easier for the nurses. Get in the bays and observe them properly then instead of just glancing in. And make sure the patients can access the bells and answer them!
I used to be a nurse my self and its a hard, full on job. I'm sure there are plenty who do still make an effort but clearly some just want to do the minimum.

Crumbs1 · 07/04/2017 17:45

Hospitals are not for the benefit of nurses ease. Privacy is patients absolute right. Please let me know any trusts seriously displaying signs saying curtains must be open on the website. Copy the hyperlink and post.
Interestingly patient outcomes are better in units that have all single rooms. A glance is not adequate checks. The nurse looking up from a nurses station is not adequate to identify patients at risk. It's why intentional rounding was introduced along with electronic monitoring of NEWS scores. Do not believe rubbish about 'having to have curtains opened' it's not necessary and has no demonstrable impact on patient safety. I think it is nurses liking the ward to look tidy.

expatinscotland · 07/04/2017 17:53

'It's not ideal but unless you ask for a private room it's a rule and there's not much you can do about. When I said you don't constantly need privacy I mean you're not constantly needing to get dressed or be examined so curtain has to remain open'

Strawman argument as many places don't have private rooms available and there's plenty you can do about it. It is not a prison. You don't need a justification or reason why you don't want to be exposed to randoms. There's no 'rule'. I complained and then discharged myself early. Patients are not there to make other people's jobs easier.

JustHappy3 · 07/04/2017 18:18

I had the opposite problem. I didn't see sunlight/outside for 5 days after my csection as i was in a bed by the door/corridor and the ones by the windows had their curtains closed and ditto on the ward on other side of the corridor. It was truly miserable. The nurses kept trying to close my curtains and i'd pull them open as otherwise i felt i was in a padded cell.

Darbs76 · 07/04/2017 18:50

If you've been in hospital lately you'll see how rushed off their feet nurses are so it is reasonable in my opinion curtains are opened for nurses ease. This was enforced at the hospital I stayed at - nurses are incredibly overworked. That's not to say curtains aren't closed for washing etc but they wouldn't allow them to be closed all day and I could see why. Wards unfortunately aren't places where you get a lot of privacy, to be honest I was too sick to care. I'm not suggesting people get changed with curtains open but to want them closed all day makes the work of nurses and HCA's harder - hence it was not allowed on my ward a few weeks ago. Other hospitals might have different rules but this was enforced by all the few weeks I spent there

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