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Original poster

Worst behaviour you’ve encountered in hospital ward

221 replies

Ithinkthatsenough · 13/04/2018 18:56

I am probably being U and touchy in posting this as ive just spent the day in hospital having a late d&c...
on ward with 2 other ladies who were chatty, was fine and bearable this morning, after 1/2 hohri knew all about their admissions and problems, children’s schooling, then had to put my headphones in when they started on bowel movements.
I was having an op, cleary due to care, questions asked, they could hear eveyrthinf tooand quite a distressing one

OP posts:
youngnomore · 14/04/2018 21:23

Spartacus-Shock

Freshprincess · 14/04/2018 21:28

When I had my DTs, one of them was in SCBU for a couple of days. Midwives on ward wouldn't let me go and visit him because I couldn't leave the other twin, even if my mum stayed with him. I hadn't seen him since he was 3 hours old.
The post natal Ward I was on had a nursery you could put the babies into to overnight. When they were both finally with me I said I wanted to keep them both by the side of the bed (was trying to breastfeed and didn't want them to have formula).Woke up to find only one twin At the side of the bed. To say I freaked out would be a understatement. I thought I was having a heart attack at one point, my heart was racing so fast. Midwives thought I'd get more sleep if I only had one to look after! Suffice to say I barely closed my eyes till I was discharged a couple of days late.

Also had experience of a mixed sex assesment ward And having to give personal information in a room full of other people. They didn't even have the decency to close the curtains so you could kid yourself the bloke next couldn't hear. Mind you, There was an old lady opposite who was asked about date of last period, who was howling with laughter at the question. Her answer was something like 'the 90's'.

BattleaxeGalactica · 14/04/2018 21:33

Random unattended child trying to nick bothering DM about a soft toy on a stroke ward.

Unattended kids bothering a nurse who was trying to write up his notes on a stroke ward.

Clevs · 14/04/2018 21:34

I had a recent stay in hospital whilst being induced and was in a four-bedded room. One of the other women had more visitors than allowed, played an action film loudly on her iPad all afternoon, ordered a takeaway in for tea which stank the room out and then continued to watch her action films at 3am with no headphones or adjustment of volume Angry

helpconfused · 14/04/2018 21:45

My sister after having one of hers, complained about a foreign woman who kept shouting out all night in her language. Just the fact it was constant shouting stuff, then to top it off, she tried putting her baby in with my sisters when my sister was asleep! My sister woke and had to stop her, then she went to try and put it in with another baby!

LeighaJ · 14/04/2018 21:59

Maybe OT but seems like a good place to ask. I'm 39 weeks pregnant and recently finished packing my hospital bag.

But based on this thread and another I've read, I'm wondering if I should I buy a small bike chain and lock or something similar to secure my bag to my hospital bed?

One of the things in my bag is my camera and we don't have tons of money to spare to replace things if stolen.

flowerslemonade · 14/04/2018 22:07

ohh I remember the worst one. Being told by a friend who worked there (on a different ward) that there was a guy who had c diff who left the ward every single day to go to the main canteen on the ground floor to eat. absolutely appalling. and they couldn't discharge him or stop him for some reason.

someone saying they would bring in liquer chocolates for me (I was in for 5 weeks being tube fed, not sure if they were suggesting to try to put them down the tube).

flowerslemonade · 14/04/2018 22:09

i've got to say infection issues aside i HATED being in a side room, was in one for a few days but on a main ward the rest of the time, it was 100x preferable, felt so much safer, totally open (think it's nightingale ward) u could see the nurses station from the bed, so much better it was unreal. the side rooms felt very isolated and unsafe.

Yumyumpigs · 14/04/2018 22:15

Leighj. Your birth partner can take any pics rhen take a camera home. Only take a few £ in with you for tb e snack machine if needed. It'll be fine . Most people don't have issues.

donajimena · 14/04/2018 22:19

I gave birth in UHW after my son was born I ended up with loads of gifts. A healthcare assistant whom I will call Jeanette came to my bed to check on me and kicked the bag of gifts under the bed with great enthusiasm. They weren't in the way and I have no idea why she took such a dislike to me.
Fast forward two years and I had baby number two. I was put into a shared room. I was happily breastfeeding when in walks Jeanette and tells me I must stop breastfeeding as the person in the bed opposite husband had just arrived and he'd be embarrassed Hmm
I wish I had complained but I was young and knackered.
Jeanette you are a miserable unprofessional cow and you should never have been in that role.

AgathaMystery · 14/04/2018 22:22

Threatened with a knife by a patients husband.

Filmed by a patients family member whilst making the bed.

Threatened with being set alight by a patients husband.

Patients dropping heavily used sanitary products on the floor by their beds.

Oh god it's actually endless.

Quickerthanavicar · 14/04/2018 22:33

In with pneumonia
One man talked constantly to himself, including in his 'sleep'. He kept the other 5 of us awake all f in night. It was boiling in the ward and he wanted all the windows shut while we all had fans on.

flowerslemonade · 14/04/2018 22:34

Leigh - where I was there were cabinets right by the side of the bed, it was only an issue if u left your stuff for ages, and I never had anything taken. There was a locking compartment but I think that was just for meds, but I dont know if you could put something valuable in there. Personally I wouldn't take anything valuable as you're leaving things laying around. You may simply draw attention to your bag if you padlock it to the rails on the bed tbh. I'm sure it will be ok.

TooManyPaws · 14/04/2018 22:37

The only time I had a bad experience was when I had my big toe fused. Everyone had been lovely then the night staff came on. I had only just got sensation back from the spinal and I needed the loo so I rang my bell. A very grumpy nurse turned to demand what I wanted. When I said I needed the loo, her answer was 'just go, then'. I pointed out that I was in no condition to clamber over the sides of the bed which were raised in the high position to stop me falling out with non-working legs. She stood and watched while I hobbled and hopped, clinging to the wall, with a hugely bandaged foot with a pin like a skewer sticking out the side after having the joint removed. I had no crutches or stick as wouldn't be seeing the physio till the next day. After I almost fell trying to cross the corridor to the bathroom, she sighed deeply and finally fetched a wheelchair for me.

Gregoria · 14/04/2018 22:58

I could write a book of appalling care experiences - more so than of badly-behaved patients, who I've also come across, but who haven't actually been deliberately cruel and/or professionally negligent, as so many doctors/nurses/healthcare assistants I've seen have been. The worst has been seeing how old people with dementia are treated - so disrespectfully, cruelly and negligently.

A lighter-hearted story that amused/shocked me at the time was when in a waiting area to see cancer specialists checking to see if I had advanced cancer (thankfully I didn't or indeed any cancer). The background music for this waiting area appeared to have been concocted by someone with a very dark sense of humour. I particularly remember 'Knock, knock, knocking on Heaven's Door' Hmm and the others were all in a similar vein. Shock Even in my stressed state of mind at the time I remember being nonplussed by the music choices!

frasier · 14/04/2018 23:00

I know I had some negative comments when I posted earlier about health insurance but seriously, if you can afford it in any way it is so much better to be treated privately. I am shocked at these stories.

There were no security issues at any of the hospitals I have been in, security is on every floor and the nurses check all the time. The hospital would be sued if any of the things described in this thread happened, nurses would be sacked, they wouldn’t take that risk!

KarmaStar · 14/04/2018 23:14

Not actually in the ward but......
We were doing a charity abseil off the (very)high maternity block roof.
The guy in charge and my colleagues who were ex forces all made it look so easy,they zipped straight down.no problem.
My turn,I was halfway down but stopped going down and began swinging sideways.the more I thrashed about,the worse the momentum.
I actually had my feet repeatedly bashing into a window where this poor woman was trying to give birth with me repeatedly banging against the glass.I tried to give an apologetic wave and smile as the woman and nursing staff stated at me in shock.
Thankfully the trainers between them managed to bring me back down to earth.
I just hope the poor mum to be's Labour was uneventful afterwards...

HunterofStars · 14/04/2018 23:22

Ever, I'll look into getting it done at the hospital. I have an appointment booked with a nurse next week so will discuss it with her.

Your endoscopy sounded awful. Hope you've recovered now. Flowers

AgentCooper · 14/04/2018 23:25

Mainly just loud visitors when I was on the post natal ward - the kind who bellow and drag screeching chairs across the floor. We were only meant to have 4 visitors to a bed but some folk had crowds of them, which was a pain when my very jaundiced DS needed to be wheeled in and out regularly for his bilirubin levels to be tested.

I hated that ward - my bay wasn't even a full bay, it had the sink and bins in the corner of it, which were used constantly day and night. We were stuck there for 5 days. The midwives could not have been kinder, though, really made the best of crap resources.

Nitpickpicnic · 14/04/2018 23:25

I was finally back in the ward after a traumatic 25 hr birth with lack of care. Horribly injured down below, still covered in birth mess cos I couldn’t get off the bed to shower (alone) and no one to watch hours-old DD.

My roomie (2 bed ward) was a young lass (17?) in her 2nd term, in for overnight observation after strange pains. Had her boyfriend with her. They shagged half the night, loudly, and bumping my DD’s cot periodically.

I finally fell asleep only to be woken by the room full of medical staff, lights on, discussing whether she was in ‘proper’ labour or not, her howling. After an hour of discussion, I shouted ‘yes, it’s labour. Take her to the birthing suite and ask her about the shagging’. They went.

She returned (v poorly prem baby in NICU). Spent the rest of the day on her phone to rellos, one topic only. Whether baby had more of her skin tone (white = good) or BF’s (dark = bad). Never a mention that baby was fighting for life, and likely be in hospital for months.

Didn’t think my day could get any more ghastly, after that birth, but it really really did. I think about that baby sometimes, and its future. Don’t quite know what to wish for, in my heart.

Geekmama · 14/04/2018 23:28

KarmaStar OMG that really made me laugh Grin Grin Grin

Flampingu · 14/04/2018 23:47

I had a patients family yell at me because I was in the bed she had been in before she got moved further up the room. I was post major surgery and really didn’t care what bed I was in!

Another thing that really bothers me still was being asked by a female HCA if I minded having a bed bath done by the male HCA as they were short staffed. I was 21 and couldn’t think of anything worse, so said I’d rather it was s femsle. She said it’d be fine and sent him in. I wish I’d said more, I wasn’t comfortable with it, not his fault st all but still not ok.

bananafish81 · 15/04/2018 00:04

Had found out a few hours earlier I'd had a MMC, very fortunate to have private medical insurance so was able to get in for an ERPC that afternoon

Nurse breezily saunters into the room, as I'm gowned up and an emotional wreck, chirping 'I hear you're very anxious about the procedure, it's really nothing to be nervous about!'. I said that I wasn't nervous about the procedure itself, I just wasn't wildly happy about having my dead baby surgically removed. Her face drops. She thought I was in for an ERCP (a routine endoscopy). No, I said, I was in for an ERPC (evacuation of retained products of conception). Later an HCA bumbles into the room to take my BP and asks me what an ERPC is, as she's never heard of that procedure. DH was about to hit the roof

This was a private hospital FFS.

Same hospital a few months later for another hysteroscopy after another mc, this time a nurse insists I need to take a pregnancy test before the surgery. I said I was having the bloody operation to remove the lingering products of conception from my failed pregnancy! She left the clearblue box on the side for me, then came back and chuntered on about how her daughter had struggled for years to conceive and then ended up having two babies naturally. DH lost his shit and bellowed could she please stop talking as this was really really not appropriate.

DustyMaiden · 15/04/2018 00:15

When dad was in hospital another patient kept getting in others beds. The second anyone went to the lavatory he would get in their bed. It was quite funny.

yorkshireyummymummy · 15/04/2018 00:15

I was in hospital giving birth to a much wanted but sadly stillborn baby.
I was VERY ill with pre eclampsia and had 4 canulas in giving me the drugs I needed to stop me from going into full fitting eclampsia.

Hubby, naturally , stayed with me throughout the night while I laboured.
When one of my syringe drivers ( delivering the drugs constantly into me) beeped because it would need changing in 30 mins hubby kindly went to find a nurse rather than buzz. He found four nurses (I’m loath to call them that actually. They didn’t deserve the title) sat at the nurses station drinking tea and laughing at someone’s wedding pictures. They said they would be along soon to change it. Syringe driver ran out. Hubby buzzed. No nurse came. After thirty minutes without the drugs he went and found a nurse and he had to threaten her with reporting them if I didn’t get the drugs I needed now.
When she walked into my room she announced to me that ‘ You don’t have to make such a fuss, we are very busy and we will get to you eventually. We are very busy with women giving birth to live babies you know.
Wewereso shocked and upset by what was happening that we didn’t do anything about her. It still upsets and irks me terribly now that I didn’t do something. I wonder now how many more women she has damaged with her unbelievable words. Bitch. I refused to go back to that hospital for the successful birth of my wonderful DD even though I was advised it was the ‘ much better’ hospital.