Aibu to think that hospitals should do more to promote sleep for patients on wards

[Twistandshout77]

The nhs seems stuck in a dark age that doesn't recognise the value of sleep and comfort on patients. How is anyone supposed to recover whilst getting next to no sleep on busy, noisy, hot/cold wards with bright lights, staff talking and creaky metal bin lids banging? I'm just back from a 2 night stay with my LO in which I averaged 3 hours broken sleep a night - it wasn't me that's sick but I came out feeling so! God knows how anyone with a serious illness manages. There's SO much that could be done - and not that expensively. I'm sure they'd see much faster recovery rates and therefore savings too if there was a focus on it. Aibu to think the NHS needs to revolutionise its attitude towards sleep for inpatients? What can I do to start a campaign?!

Please not a Mumsnet campaign - I'm afraid to say that in my long mn career, I have never thought that any mn campaigns were better than useless, sorry. Campaigning is a specialist skill. My admiration for Justine and all at MNHQ is profound but campaigning is not actually their skill set.

Better to take the time to make a formal complaint about a spedifice ward, or to apply to be a governor of your local Trust.

I had a two week stay but was moved hospital for specialist care after a few days, thank Christ. I was plonked in a private room for the first stay and right by the kitchen, very noisy. I was freezing and they got a thermometer to check, I mean wtaf? I'm cold, just give me more blankets, I was in shock, too, so of course my temp was low! The nurses ignored my call button when I desperately needed the loo, no catheter, first night in, couldn't walk. The surgeon doing the rounds the next morning bollocked the matron for the state I was in.

At the next hospital, my bed was next to the door, so there was a fair bit of noise, but the worst was the bed next to me squeaking to announce there was a problem, some kind of air bed thing. It failed constantly and the nurses didn't know how to reset it. Good job I did.

I was woken up by the anaethatist at 3am so he could check for allergies etc. I had blood taken at 4am, blood pressure at 6. Fun times! I had excellent care, but little sleep and my sleep pattern has never re-set properly.

I spent 3 weeks in hospital and every single bloody night the old woman in the bed opposite tried to climb into bed with me. And she spent all day sat in her chair staring at me. It was years ago but I do sometimes wake up in the middle of the night thinking she is there.

My gynae ward stays have been fine, very quiet and calm etc.
My orthopaedic stay a few years before was insane.... mainly little old ladies who had falls and broke hips....they would screech all fucking night, it wasn't just pain, some had dementia(obviously not their fault) some just wanted attention (wanted to be spoon fed a yoghurt at 2am), and then we had the wanderers...they would wander arohnd the ward in the dark and stand at the end of the bed staring....super creepy. Plus normal ward noises.

I got to the stage of asking if they wouldn't dope the screamers could they please knock me out!! I was totally bedbound and couldn't even turn over easily let alone run around complaining. I don't know how they could fix it but it was still very hard to feel any better with no sleep.

I haven't rtht but I was in hospital a while ago and although the care was wonderful and I appreciate the nurses and Drs my one bugbear was the night staff, they were loud and would run and skip up and down the ward shouting and calling to each other, which was ok as they'd had a good 'nights' sleep but for the patients stuck on the ward we just wanted a sleep without being disturbed. They should hand out sleeping tablets eye masks and ear plugs if they want to be so noisy.

It makes no sense to me. Doctors talk about getting enough sleep all the time. The first thing they tell you to do if you have any minor ailment is to 'get plenty of rest'. Lack of sleep is known to exacerbate all sorts of conditions (someone mentioned epilepsy above, my DH diabetes is definitely affected by it, mental health conditions etc)...and yet, in a hospital, where people are seriously ill and need sleep more than ever to recover, this seems to be completely ignored as a factor? Patients getting enough sleep should be up there with being kept clean, hydrated and doing observations not just something incidental.

I was woken in the middle of the night following a c-section so the nurse could take my caterer out! Completely unnecessary, I told her to go away and come back in the morning. If I didn't have a baby to tend to then I would of let her but sleep is precious to a mum with a newborn

Sleep is important and there are things that could be done differently, but some aspects do come with the territory and cannot just stop. Monitors and alarms will go off- that's the whole point of them, to warn if something is not right. Some patients will need to be woken for medication/checks during the night when their clinical needs require it. Admissions wards go day and night, by their very nature.

Of course staff should chat quietly and try to minimise disruptions for medication etc. Some places are better than others. Single rooms may help a bit too.

I was in and out of hospital a lot a couple of years ago and it was so so noisey at night. On two occasions they came and moved me to a differnt bed/ward in the middle of the night. The nurses were chatting so loudly a lot of the time and a lot of the noise could have been helped.

Jacks what about replacing sound alarms on Ivs etc with silent alarms that send a vibrate signal to a specific pager or mobile that the nurse for the bed holds? And frankly I don't think staff should chat quietly - at night they shouldn't chat at all, unless they are behind a closed door or talking to a patient who will be less disruptive with company.

I was in for the best part of a week recently and the ward I was on actually did a really great job of this! Admittedly I was in a private room for reasons of infection control, but they liked me to keep the door open if I wasn't asleep or changing so I could see the comings and goings of the ward.

• Lights were dimmed at 10pm, one loud pain in the ass of a woman was disruptive for a while but finally STFU after being given short shrift by a nurse. Night shift staff worked quietly at the nurse's station, chatting in low voices at most.

• All visitors chucked out within 10 minutes of visiting hours ending if they didn't leave of their own accord.

• Observations at stupid o'clock done quietly, not expected to rise and shine after 6am obs - left to go back to sleep. HCA would come in and bring water, but just put it down without waking you if you were sleeping.

• No one asked me to do anything like shower, get up, talk important medical information before about 7.30am. Those things were all kept to normal hours.

• Meal choices were given with the previous meal, so you got a form for your lunch when they served you breakfast. I was admitted through A&E so didn't get a chance to order breakfast, they just found me some toast and tea without fuss.

• Noise minimised in the night. My bin wasn't soft close, but can't say I noticed any clanging elsewhere. Maybe they were just careful with them. Call bells answered ASAP so they weren't driving everyone nuts. Didn't hear any TVs, but honestly, the TVs were awkward and I suspect much of the elderly clientele couldn't actually work them.

The only real problem, ward environment wise, was that it was hotter than the heart of the Abyss in there. But as there was a heat wave and it was 30 degrees outside, that couldn't really be helped!

When we were in postnatal, one of the nurses on night shift played the radio at night. He was quite aggressive in his manner so I was too scared to go and ask him to switch it off. I complained afterwards and I got a letter back saying they'd sent him for retraining. Retraining? Is there training in how not to be an arsehole?

My experience has been the opposite.

My DS has surgery at a city children's hospital and huge care was taken to preserve a quiet atmosphere. I stayed over on a trundle bed beside my son, the staff were fantastic.
If another child became upset or started to cry on the ward then staff would take the child to a side room to attend and comfort so that quiet could be maintained on the ward. My DS needed overnight pain medication but it was done as silently and quietly as staff could manage.

Wow I definitely haven't stayed anywhere where they took a noisy child away!
I have stayed somewhere they did music therapy with singing and gituars etc for the child in the next bed just as I had finally got my baby down for a nap in the day!
Obviously it's very dependant on the ward/hospital. Good on Southampton for that pilot - I'll read into that thanks for sending. Agree teenagers shouldn't be put on bays with babies/toddlers if at all possible

My hospital do most of the suggestions already

Many modern hospitals are being built to different standards - the new hospital in Glasgow has mainly single bedded rooms and less noise. In many hospitals it is horrendous though, I stayed one night with my daughter on a 6 bedded unit after she had her tonsils out and it was a fecking nightmare. 6 kids crying, 6 mums trying to get comfortable on camp beds, loud talking from staff, doors banging, bins clattering, equipment and machinery being moved around, just AWFUL.

Also had an operation in a private hospital last year and had three nights as an inpatient - slept very well. The main differences were the single room, but also the corridors were carpeted (the rooms weren't) so you just didn't hear people walking about or moving equipment. There wasn't loud chatting or any other noise. Of course being doped up on opiates proabably contributed to the quality of my sleep.

completely and utterly agree.

I think much of it are such little things that could be so easily changed if hospitals would just prioritise patient's rest.

My bug bear are the machine alarms. They seem to go off constantly and are constantly ignored. When you ask why they are going off then it's never anything that is alarming, it's just a malfunction, a bad trac, the end of an infusion..... they are not necessary and are ignored by nurses that don't even register them. Completely useless, only serve to wake up and stress out sick people.

and other complaints

nurses having social conversations
cleaners during sleeping hours ( one children's ward i was in with DD when she was a baby had cleaners come in and empathy bins and hoover at 8pm each night!!!!!)
lights on and loud conversations for nighttime observations. Why not use a torch and whisper?

My local children's hospital has recently decedid that parents are not allowed folding beds at all next to their children as one nurse fell over a bed and broke her arm!!!! So all parents of sick children are left sleep deprived because of one accident?????

I find it a real mix when I take DD in. There is one night shift nurse pairing that makes me cry if I see them comeback on duty. They just don't seem to get that night = sleep. I'm hoping the fact that myself and another parent were about to tell the nurse manager the full details of her holiday, her fall out with her husband, the rude flight crew on her plane and her shitty neighbours might mean someone has a word with her.
Whistling and singing along to the radio are my two bug bears

I think YANBU

although when I stayed with dd in the children's ward she had a private room and despite being hotter than hell it was fairly quiet. The stink of the food being heated up was pretty bad though and the constant ping of the nurses making things in the microwave. The only time I've stayed overnight on a ward was hellish. Earplugs and a mask should be mandatory

When I did nights on a HDU/level 2 unit we often had to do overnight bed baths/washes - 90% of nights patients would soil the bed or someone would have a fever of 40 and need sponged down. Also took highly dependant/immobile adults for a shower early morning otherwise with 36 showers needing done some wouldn't get washed until 2pm. I think that's outdated practice now.

We always tried to keep very quiet, only a bedside lamp on and hushed voices.

I hated nights though, everything was always much worse - you always got more emergencies , people always seemed to get ill so much faster (eg emergency theatre dashes at 3am), and yes a lot of agency staff. I used to find it petrifying at first. Patients would be so much more confused as well , can remember a solid cofdee table being thrown at me once.

Then of course you get all your normal stuff - toileting/commode, overnight IV and NG, analgesia, doctor review, admissions from A&E or OOH doctors .. we also had cleaning rotas for overnight too.

As a patient in August, October, December , January, March, April, May, June and July this last year , I learnt best thing is an eye mask, silicone ear plugs, a hoodie , and your own blanket. That and 10 of oramorph at lights out .

Our ward sister always arrived early without saying to see what we were doing, you also got overnight visits from band 6/7s to see at random times and anything they didn't like you were rightly pulled up on. You learn very quickly how to have a quiet conversation, which trolley not to use, to bag rubbish and bin in sluice room, to put machines on at 6 if possible, to check IVs before alarms start.. not an easy job for anyone at all. I do remember one of my admissions the nurses got me up , showered and then I asked if I could go back to bed , they didn't wake me again until 1pm, that was bliss.

No one expects total darkness and silence but you can dim lights, staff can talk quietly outside of urgent situations where they need to do otherwise, the bins don't have to be ridiculously noisy, there can be rules about TV only being used with headphones after a certain time, partitions which reduce sound and light can be installed instead of curtains, patients who are noisy and disruptive and selfish can be spoken to, etc. Hospital is awful for sleep. Just awful.

After DD birth I self discharged on day 3. Had her Friday, came home Monday and probably had about 4 hours sleep in that whole time. Practically hallucinating by that time, I legged it out of the ward as soon as they gave me my meds and discharge notes!

Noone is complaining about any of the normal essential hospital medical stuff .. it's the non emergency alarms, bins, non essential cleaning, social conversations etc...