Best behaviour you've encountered on a hospital ward

[amymel2016]

Just to offer some balance this evening...

I've had some amazing care from the NHS recently. Everything from the HCA who saved me a bed next to the window after I'd had my DS to the Consultant I saw last week who put my mind at ease about my most recent illness.

I also love the dinner lady who slipped me an extra ice cream!

The obstetrician who let me go home for a few hours on Xmas day to spend with DC1 whilst I was having a v difficult pregnancy with DC2 and then rang me whilst he was having his Xmas dinner to check I was ok
I was - DC2 is now 25!

When I was having DD there was one midwife who just didn't seem to like me. She was snappy and came across as quite harsh compared to the others, who were lovely and reassuring (I was 19, being induced early due to pre-eclampsia and terrified of staying in hospital on my own). The night before DD was born (I'd already been in 4 days by this point) I was in bed feeling like crap, she was the midwife on duty, someone was brought into the bed next to me at I think 30 weeks pregnant with painless tightenings, insisted on having her whole family, they were noisy, they tried to take all the chairs etc.

I was struggling with pain and got onto the bouncy ball, some twat actually pulled the curtain back to glare at me and shush me for having the audacity to make noise while they spoke loudly. This was at about 1am.

The midwife comes onto the ward and says in the most withering voice possible, "I've got a leaflet for you about Braxton Hicks contractions. We'll discharge you now". The family tried to protest and insisted they wanted to stay but she was having none of it. She told them all to be quiet and get out while she did the discharge paperwork

Then once they'd all left, she popped into my cubicle, told me that she was sorry for the racket, that hopefully I would be on the labour ward by this time tomorrow and I was coping really well with it all. It made me well up and I had a newfound respect for that midwife then, she made that night bearable. Lo and behold 24 hours later I was on the labour ward cuddling DD :)

The very very young male nurse? HCA? Who spent hours through the night coming back to the bedside of a lady with dementia who was in the bed oposite me. She kept screaming for her dad and he sat stroking her hair explaining to her where she was reassuring her he was there and she should have a little sleep.

This thread ia really making me miss being a HCA. I adored that job, every single part was important in its own way. I still remember the first person I saw who was dicharged 'better' from being very seriously ill, she came down the corridor crying and gave me a hug. No feeling like it.

And the wee patient who was terminal, my third day at work and a colleague shouted at me in front of her, about my M&H techniques which I'd had little training in (which has now been changed thank God, they don't let anyone on a ward without that sort of basic training completed). I'd never met a dying person before and was bewildered by it and many parts of the job. I went back after my shift to apologise for being not too gentle - I was devastated I might have hurt her. That lady was so lovely, and so encouraging. Made me eat her chocolates as I was in tears. I think of her and her family often.

Many, many other stories - most I shouldn't share online! - but a wonderful job. I'm training now for a different healthcare role but still hugely miss being a band 2. Taught me a great deal about life.

All the staff at the paediatric A&E and then the children's ward we were transferred to when my DD had suspected appendicitis. Every single one of them smiled, took time to look after my daughter really well and seemed incredibly positive, even at 3am. Especially the consultant who took my daughter seriously when she said she was in so much pain she couldn't watch the Bake Off final! I emailed the hospital when DD was home to tell them how fab they all were. (DD was fine in the end, no appendicitis, despite not being able to watch Bake Off .)

All the nurses who looked after me when I had my back surgery last year. The nurse who came into my room on the high dependency unit every five minutes to keep me hydrated and morphine-d. She was rushed off her feet but still came in every five minutes during the night to press the button on the pump. What a hero - I wouldn't have stayed sane without her.

All the staff who looked after me during my pregnancy and delivery with DD2. Her older sister had died the previous year and they understood who paranoid I was during the pregnancy. The co sultans booked in a whole team of specialists to check her over when she was born to make sure she didn’t have anything wrong with her.

When DD2 was 8.5 weeks old (NYE) she was rushed in not breathing with bronchiolitis. The registrar called her consultant who left his dinner party and came straight in to look after her personally.

One amazing nurse at Royal Blackburn who was with my grandad when he had a stroke. She had such rare,sincere kindness that you rarely see. She was an older lady but not jaded or negative and hadn't lost the skill to actually care for people. She really took a shine to my grandad and looked after him as you would hope someone would when you can't be there.

The amazing Sister on the children's ward when I arrived with an ill DD1 (toddler) who was petrified when DD2 (newborn) started screaming for a feed during DD1's obs. I was on my own and on the edge trying to please both of them - without a moment's thought she took DD2 out of my arms and fed her so beautifully. A run of bad luck meant I ended up on the same ward with a desperately ill newborn two days later. She came in to our room and just hugged me ( I cried!) and chatted. We weren't her patients but she kept coming back when she could to see how we were all doing. Absolute angel. I'll ever forget her kindness and ability to "normalise" such stressful situations.

What a great thread love all the positive.stories!!

I am in an NHS hospital now beside my daughter who has just had a major surgery

The staff have been fabulous!!

After being turned away from the maternity ward in labour (without being checked and being told I didn’t look like I was in enough pain) I ended up clinging to a windowsill having contractions in a different part of the hospital on my way back to the car.

A nurse from another ward found me, took one look and asked why I wasn’t in the labour ward, DH explained what had happened and she was furious, she summoned a wheelchair for me and called the head midwife who rushed down and took me straight to delivery. I was 10cm and ready to go, DS was born half an hour later.

That nurse was my hero, and my baby would have been born in the car if she hadn’t had stepped in. I wish I had gone back and said thank you to her.

Many, my specialist who took the fear away. The lovely nurse, who realising my DM wasn't eating (no one else had) went and found fortisips and made sure that she didn't starve.

Where to start!

The matron who sat with me while I was in tears of frustration through worry and exhaustion when ds was ill.

The senior nurse who went to pharmacy herself to pick up the medicines so we could get home without waiting all day for them to be delivered

The cleaner who made time to stop and play with ds

The doctor who sat and drew pictures with ds before examining him

The consultant who when we were patients in a different hospital to his phoned me after talking to the hospital to explain to me the action plan

The staff who slept at the hospital when the snow would have made it hard to get back in

The Dad who during said snow got to the crisp factory he worked at and got a bin bag full of crisps to keep the parents fed

The list goes on

When I was about to go under GA, the consultant who said, ‘I know this isn’t normal for you, but it’s normal for all of us and I promise we’ll take good care of you.’

This after him having been nabbed by a radiographer in A&E to look at my scans after an A&E doctor had dismissed my pain. He was clearly furious and just looked at me and said ‘I’m taking care of you now.’

I've got quite a few medical issues so see lots of people but one I think about was the young woman shadowing the anesthetist before an operation.

She introduced herself as,'a medical student' so I asked her name and then asked if she wanted to intubate me if the anesthetist agreed.

She reacted like it was a great big treat.

I think it's better to do your first intubation as a student with a consultant anesthetist next to you rather than your first crash as a newly qualified Dr.

I wish her luck in her career.

My mum died of terminal cancer.

When she was in hospital, the nurses turned a blind eye to us smuggling in her little dog. It made my mum so happy to have her with her and the nurse were so kind.

The amazing housekeeper when I was in with ds when he had sepsis at 12weeks. The day before had been the worst of my life with him having lumbar puncture and catheterisation and blood cultures, had been awake all night with him and she came round with the breakfast trolley. She asked if I wanted cereal or toast and I just burst into tears, I was so worried and exhausted I couldn't even speak. She brought me cereal AND toast, and buttered it for me and cut it up as I was bfeeding at the time. I also suspect she spoke to the deputy sister as she to came in to me shortly after to try to reassure me. She was just amazing.

forever
That probably happens more than the NHS will admit, do you remember this?

www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/woman-granted-final-wish-see-horse-hospital-amazed-worldwide-response-463401

The amazing cardiac surgeon and staff who looked after my son for the first 18 years of his life. He had open heart surgery at 13, and has never looked back (although I have alot ). He is currently doing his finals at Uni, looking forward to a career etc. I will never be able to thank the NHS enough.

The amazing staff at The Royal Berkshire A&E.
My son broke his arm and they were excellent. Very reassuring and kind, put a Harry Potter film on whilst they were doing the plastering so he was totally distracted.
The lovely lady in the outpatients plaster room when ds needed his cast cut down. He was scared of the tool they used to do it, so she showed him exactly what it was and how it worked and how it couldn't harm skin. He ended up with a bright green cast!
Everyone involved in the birth of both my children.
The lovely nurses on the drugs rounds who were kind and friendly.
The nurse who decided it wasn't fair for me to be on a postnatal ward when ds2 was in special care and shifted me to a private room. That saved my sanity.
The excellent and professional registrar who performed the emcs and gave DH a death stare for daring to peek over the screen whilst I was being operated on.
Everyone who made sure ds2 was ok and breathing.
The doctor who spotted ds2 was cold and needed to be in an incubator. She came back to apologise to me as it was all rather rushed. She also noticed that I was as sick as ds2 was!
The nurse who listened to me when I said I'd rather keep the canula in my right hand rather than have a new one in my left. I'm left handed and the canula was starting to fail. She warned me that my last IV antibiotics were likely to be painful going in if I insisted.
They were, but she gave me the right to make the choice.
Ds2 is now developing quite a squint so we're gearing up for more hospital appointments.
NHS and all who work there - I love you!

When I was 35 weeks pregnant with DD I was admitted to hospital.

It was a general ward as I went with non pregnancy related stuff and there was no room on the Maternity Ward.

There was me and 5 women in the bay, I was the youngest by at least 50 years. The staff were brilliant with the older ladies, helping them get up and out of bed whenever they needed the toilet, responding immediately when one fell out of bed and getting tea and toast for her afterwards too. They kept asking me if I needed more pillows, and even got me more water in the night even though I asked if they could tell me where to refill it myself.

In the morning the doctors spoke quietly so no-one else could hear your business and were polite and helpful. One doctor explained to the lady in the bed next to me twice what was going and then came round again when she had visitors to explain it to them as she hadn't understood.

When I was midway through my degree I had a really nasty asthma attack that landed me on a respiatory ward for 5 days. There was a bed manager who was doing the rounds, checking on all of the wards at about 3 am who noticed I was still awake. He made me a cup of tea, found me biscuits and logged my iPad into the staff WiFi so I wouldn’t have to pay for it. We chatted about the Philippines, where he was from, for ages as I’d recently been there on my midwifery elective. He came back to see me the next night, just to check I was okay.

Last year I had a mmc and had to do in for day surgery for a d&c as mc didn’t complete. My care was absolutely wonderful even in an otherwise sad situation (though I write this with my now 8 week old ds asleep in my arms). They wheeled me upstairs to wait to go into a theatre and one of the nurses came over and waited with me in the hall as I waited to be wheeled in. She asked if i was doing okay and if I’d had a d&c before. I told her I hadn’t but I was doing okay. She told me she’d had to have two but then went on to have two more children. She patted my arm and said, “you’re going to be fine” and she stayed with me till they took me in. It was just what I needed then. I’ve lived in several countries and nothing compares to the NHS. We’re very lucky.

5 years ago (last week to be exact!) I was in a really dark place. I was in chronic constant pain and had to take a range of pain meds to cope with every day tasks - thankfully surgery had relatively cured my pain.

Anyway during one admittance when the pain was really bad and I wasn’t thinking very straight I tried to call DH as he missed visiting hours. No answer. I called his family, they said he had dropped off our DD 2 hours prior to go and visit me (hospital only 20 minutes away). I began to panic thinking he’d been in an accident. I sat in my bed weeping. The ward sister sat with me, calmed me down and even rang A&Es in the area if there had been reports of RTAs to put my mind at ease. 15 minutes later DH walked in (flat tyre!).

I had a total over relation stemmed from my depression and pain but I’ll never forget how that nurse held my hand and treated me with kindness and respect.

I’m tearing up just remembering it.

Valerie at Macmillan Leeds. I had just left my dp in another part of the hospital who was having an operation to remove a cancer. She asked me if there was anything I needed and I got the biggest hug and cup of tea I've ever had.

Some amazing stories here. We really are very lucky to have such caring people working in our hospitals.