Health professionals in uniform being stopped by public

[stripedsocks105]

Hi! I've namechanged because I feel quite guilty.

I work as a uniformed HCP, when I'm at work I like to use the hospital shops/ canteen to buy lunch etc. Each time- I mean EVERY time I'm always stopped by hospital users to ask for directions to whatever ward/service they need to use. I'm polite and generally tell them where they can find out the information (there's usually volunteers nearby at each entrance to give out info) but this happens when I'm on the phone, reading etc.

I know this sounds incredibly selfish but I've only got a limited time to get food, eat it, return to ward. I've always got a coat/ cardigan on so looking as off duty as I possibly could. I know it's just friendly and helpful but WIBU to just want leaving alone to walk and eat food in peace ?

You should be an HCP on the maternity ward where I gave birth. Not only would none of them help you with anything if you stopped them in the corridor, they had a staff room on ward where patients weren’t allowed to knock on the door and interrupt their breaks and they were constantly taking breaks - I had to delay my booked for a certain time induction by an hour for an HCP to take a break, as well as delay the pushing stage of labour! It’s important to take breaks at work but they took many more breaks than I ever get in my public sector (none Healthcare) job.

OP, you seem to need things spelt out.

Here they are then, literally spelt out.

The C in HCP stands for care and the P is for professional.

Now draw the necessary conclusion on your own.

I feel your pain, we only get 15 min morning break & 30 mins for lunch.. if people stop me in morning break & im going to the cantine it makes my break so short. We also have a new wing which is awkward to get to so explaining takes 5 minutes 😭. I don’t think there’s any way round it tho... I just walk quickly & avoid eye contact 😂

I dream of an NHS where the care of the staff is like Silicon Valley - private subsidised canteens, comfy sleep pods, gym and massage facilities ... and patients or staff who shout or swear, or bully or steal, or break visitation rules are taken outside and banned for a year or two. Because how we are treated really should depend on how we treat others and healthcare of all places should show that.

Ethylred so anyone who is a HCP has no entitlement to breaks? If you are a HCP and happy to give up all breaks that's your choice but you can't dictate that all HCPs must be happy to do the same.

*OP, you seem to need things spelt out.

Here they are then, literally spelt out.

The C in HCP stands for care and the P is for professional.

Now draw the necessary conclusion on your own.*

For goodness sake.

Ethylred, that was a truly obnoxious post.

KtheGray I quite agree but also in reverse. HCP's who are kind, professional, clinically excellent, who don't waste patient time, fail to communicate and who at all times are respectful and don't raise their voices.

I hate going to hospitals. They are the only places where I am messed around, where the right arm doesn't seem to know what the left is doing, and where i lose trust in clinical judgements because so much of the small stuff goes wrong.

I see more hcps being rude to the public in hospitals than vice versa.

Tinkie. Don’t be ridiculous. Of course Broomfield Hospital is NHS. It may have been partly rebuilt under PFI and use outside provision for ancillary services but it’s patients are NHS patients and it’s clinical staff are NHS employees.

Reading these posts made me so glad I left nursing and work in an office away from the public.

I work in a school. Interrupted lunch is a occupational hazard.

I work in a school. Interrupted lunch is a occupational hazard
And??
Why the race to the bottom?
It's like when someone posts on the staffroom board and then some idiot turns up saying "you can't complain about x because in thr real world...'

People are entitled to a lunch BREAK. The clue is in BREAK.

I also work in schools and I take my lunch. I don't do lunch detentions, don't do lunch meetings. If a pastoral situation comes up I'll obviously deal with it but most weeks I get all my lunches (unless i choose to mark through them).

I work in a school. Interrupted lunch is a occupational hazard.

I also work in a school. No, it isn't. If you choose to allow interruptions to your break that's on you, but it isn't innately part of the profession. A lunch break is a legal entitlement.

Sorry but I think YABU. I work in a hospital and rarely leave the department because I bring my lunch but if I run to the canteen or shop and see someone looking lost I ask them if I can help. These people are probably either sick themselves or visiting a sick relative so the least I can do is give them some directions and a smile.

How would they know you were on lunch though?

Joan. It’s fairly logical to assume that a nurse or other HCP in uniform who is either buying or eating a sandwich is on a meal break. 🙄

I've been a midwife for over thirty years and never once have I objected to helping out public with directions etc. You are lucky enough to escape your work environment to get your break, why not get a job shut in an office where no one will disturb you! You are a public servant, get a grip!!

Save your AlexaAmbidextra. The nurse has to walk from the ward to the shop first. So there is plenty of opportunity for people to ask directions without knowing where she is going. I agree with Liketoshop. Get a grip OP. And I say that as an ex nurse so I do understand the job.

You are a public servant, get a grip!!

And herein lies the problem. Getting interrupted on a break is minor but it's the thin end of a wedge that makes people think it's ok to give you shit because after all you're a public servant.... my taxes pay you're wages and all that shit.