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!

At postnatal, my handbag had gone missing in the rush to get me to theatre (cord prolapse!) and I was really distressed, heightened by being post section, being unable to walk, no-one with me, tubes stuck all over. It had everything in. Then the night shift came in and one of the nurses said she'd look for it when it was quiet. Anyway she came back and said she didn't find it.. went out and then 5 mins came back and said "it's annoying me now, I WILL find it!"

She went and got someone elses iphone and told me to login to 'find my iphone' and make the alarm go off on it. I said no because it's so loud that it'll wake all the babies. She said not to worry about that and went and did it and she found my handbag shoved into some random locker! I could have kissed her.

Our cleft palate surgeons always phone last thing at night to check their patients are ok. And heaven forbid if there is a problem overnight and we don' t phone them.
The surgeon currently being filmed on Hospital on BBC2 bought a child a box of chocolates as it was the first thing he asked for when her woke up. I was a bit sad that they didn't show it. Especially when he went round sharing them with us. It was really sweet.
I love buying balloons for any child on the ward who's birthday it is.

Before surgery: The team of nurses who were on the night shift when I first got admitted. I remember how kind they were, how well they looked after me and how they took the time to come and see me when I was moved to a different ward to check on me.

After surgery: The ward sister who came back to work after a couple of days off over the weekend and took one look at how much I had deteriorated whilst she was away and went nuclear. Her quiet, white hot anger that I had not been put back on intravenous fluids even though I was being repeatedly sick and was now very weak and dehydrated made the hairs on my neck stand up. I actually felt sorry for the nurse looking after me, even though her care had been pretty bad.

The nurse who stayed behind after I had been tearfully arguing with the Dr on rounds that it was the codiene was making me ill not the morphine injections (which I only had because I could keep anything down, but after which I would become well enough to take oral pain killers and then the whole cycle would start again) and he wouldn’t listen and kept telling me I was wrong. She told me that I could refuse to take the codiene and because they couldn’t leave me in pain (after major abdominal surgery) they would have to give me morphine. I did as she told me to and I stopped being sick and got slowly stronger. She probably didn’t think anything of it but it still means the world to me.

Mine was the visitor of the patient in the next bed. They were a stereotypically 'rough' couple, conversations peppered with swear words etc, I reached over to get my water off my cabinet and knocked my contact lens case off the cabinet and leaned over to try and pick it up but couldn't find it. Immediately the guy comes over and says to me 'hey, what the XXXX are you doing, hen - I'll get it' and proceed to crawl right under my bed to get it. A lesson in not judging a book by it's cover and an appreciated kindness!

The lovely anaesthetist who stroked my face while I was about to be put under unexpectedly for a c section, the theatre nurses who had a hand each holding my hand and talking to me, the midwives and nurses who looked after me when I came round. All lovely

The ENP who treated me when I had badly broken my leg, she was so sympathetic and pragmatic that I brought in chocolates and a card 12 weeks later when I could walk again.

The plastics consultant who treated DC2, he remembered the name of her favourite toy/comforter every time he saw her. She was 3 and it made a huge difference. I’ll never forget his care.

The nursing staff when DC2 was admitted, they cared for me and fed me as at 8.5months pregnant I was very much in need of it. They didn’t have to as I wasn’t the patient.

The midwife who took DC2 off me for 2 hours in the middle of the night while I slept in postnatal ward.

All the midwives who attended my various home births, they made sure I was clean, happy and tucked up in bed with my newborn before clearing up all evidence and disappearing.

Many family members are HCP from consultants to junior doctors to dentists. They work so bloody hard, I love them all.

The off-duty ITU Consultant who came to my aid when I was knocked off my bike and semi-conscious on the road.

The obstetrician who sensibly looked at the whole clinical picture of what was happening during my labour with DD (thick meconium, drops in her heart rate) and recommended an epidural....it meant I could be awake for her birth when all hell broke loose and the same obstetrician saved her life.

The midwives, Health Visitors and mental health nurses who have literally saved my life countless times when I’ve been in the pit of PND. Because of them my daughter has a mother.

The patient, caring and kind NICU that looked after my son for the first week of his life. It broke my heart that I had to leave him there to go home and sleep, but I trusted that he was in the best hands ever. A lot of the equipment in NICU is paid for by fundraising and donations, so on the day we took our son home we left them £1000 and a massive box of chocolates. Never actually told anybody that until today.

That should read nurses!

From the staff side - a patient arrived the evening before a major surgery. He ordered a Chinese takeaway for all the night staff. Thankfully his surgery went well.

The midwife on the post natal Ward after I had dd noticed I was struggling to breathe and immediately did checks to make sure I was ok.

When I was re-admitted due to the fact dd had lost too much weight in the first week the midwives were really supportive and reassuring and knowledgeable. Resulting in dd putting on enough weight in 24 hours for us to go home. She’s a healthy little thing now and has met all her targets.

The midwives where I had my last baby we’re all brilliant kind and professional. I was probably really horrible and angry whilst giving birth (god was the last birth difficult) but not a single one was anything but lovely to me.

I was discharged earlier than the hospital would have liked with ds as I was essentially mid mental breakdown and they accepted that being stuck in a ward was making me worse. Ds had been discharged from NICU the day before I was discharged and they needed us to come in on the next day for a quick blood test for him. Quick naturally became 5 hours... but the auxiliary who brought me and dh soup, sandwiches and a drink whilst we waited for the results will forever have a place in my heart.

Also my df died in hospital last month and one of the nurses told us whilst he was unconscious that if a dying patient didn't have any family/friends with them, they took it in turns to sit with them and talk to them until they were pronounced dead by a doctor. Just in case they could still hear them and so no one had to die alone. I thought that was a lovely thing to do.

The night I gave birth to my daughter after an emergency section an HCA doing my 15 minute obs spotted that my daughter was floppy and cold (I was too out of it to notice). Her swift intervention meant my baby was treated for acute anaemia which hadn't been spotted because her apgar scores were 9 and 10 immediately after birth. She, and the rest of the team in neonatal intensive care undoubtedly saved my daughter from death or brain damage.

In particular I don't think HCAs get credit where it's due.

The brilliant A&E + ITU teams who saved my life when I was diagnosed with sepsis, without them I'd have died Christmas 2016

Gosh so many moment during my two weeks in hospital with two operations & many procedures. The surgeon who put his hand on my shoulder when I told him how scared I was, the nurse who brought me a cup of coffee when I was waiting for yet another procedure, the friendly, smiling nurses who always told me how brave I was (I was 44) I liked to hear this. The lovely nurse in the HDU unit who was just do kind & caring. The paramedics who drove me from one hospital to another & were so reassuring. The porter's who chatted to me while wheeling me about, the HCA who was like my mum.
My consultant who checked up on me daily despite being very busy.
My surgeon who was always so kind & such a lovely man.
The NHS saved my life & I'll be forever grateful to each & every person who cared for me, fed me, transported me, cleaned up around me.

The HCA who sat with me the morning after I'd laboured all through the night alone, kneeling and leaning over the back of the bed because I couldn't lie down in any position and desperate for dh to be there (nurse refused to call him for me and made me feel so stupid I didn't call him myself), who talked to me, made me laugh and kept me calm until dh arrived. I was so scared and tired, and she felt the first caring person that I'd seen since I'd been admitted. I wish I could remember her name.

My lovely neurologist who tried all sorts of treatments when others wouldnt touch me. He was still willing to try as long as i was happy and it would have a chance to make things better. The way he pulled together a full multi disciplinary team meeting before i left the ward so i could input into it, getting all 12 people from 8 disciplines and also allowing me to have a voice in my care and the way forward. When we came to the point of didnt have anything else to try that he knew of, he set into making life easier for me to live with as things are to have the best life i can. However i did a lot of research and found a couple other consultants and he has made connections with them, i have seen one already, he has secured the funding for me to go abroad for treatment purposes and we are tackling this as a team pro-actively. Since being on the ward, he has his full assessments from the other discplines in the hospital at that point so i will have to go back onto ward to update before heading abroad. I love the fact he works with me as a team not as Dr of knowledge and (me as lowly) patient. (which some do see people as)

Ive also met far too many fantastic staff along the way as well but he stands out as no matter how ive been he has been nothing but supportive, ive been in the depths of despair and cried on him and when ward rounding, he doesnt stand at bed he sits down so he is at same level as me so a lot easier.

10+ years ago local gynae ward was brilliant to me, i started bleeding and over 2 hours lost roughly 3 pints of blood with no stoppage before i got to hospital, they slowed down the loss once i got there to approx just another pint so 4 in total, it took 3 nurses who worked with the regristrar and the consultant, while a HCA sat and talked to me as unless they gave me a GA there are good reasons i cant tolerate sedatives and i wasnt in any pain apart from blood gushing, when we finally got it stopped, no idea why it happened , the paramedics who attended the house asked several times could i be MC but i definitely wasnt pregnant as it was over a year from dtd but it looked like that from the scene in front of them

Anyhow the HCA held my hand, the nurses and Drs got bleeding under control, i ended up needing stiching and despite the weakness after blood loss, i wanted to discharge myself and go dancing (was a bit hyper around 5am) so one of the drs had a little dance with me in the corridor before i was put into bed till the main consultant came around who we sorted out treatment for me with and rest and recovery and blood over the following weeks.

To the team of paramedics who took me into a&e, medical ward i ended up on and was looked after while i was fully unconscious for almost a week after a suicide attempt, the person who found me wasnt expected to arrive for another 2 days, they kept testing to see any level of consciousness and let next of kin know once there was something as the finder wasnt family so hospital wouldnt share info with them, apparently staff in the meantime according to other patients in bay when i did come around, sat with me, talking to me and rubbing my arms and hands to try and get a response probably.

Im told i didnt respond to anything until about an hour before waking up. I didnt appreciate it at the time how they had looked after me as i was really upset that i survived but they got psych assessment as soon as i was able and my sw had to intervene with psych assessment as they were sending me back home in a worse state than previously with no support.

The ward sister was stunned, she insisted i should go to psych ward esp if was willing to go voluntary as after 6.5 days unconscious and various other injuries she knew it was a serious attempt so she fought for me alongside the social worker.

It makes me cry just thinking about this, but I’m going to write it down.
When DD was 3 weeks old, she was admitted to hospital with suspected Meningitis. One cold, detached Dr made me think I was going to lose her. The night shift nurse, Eloise, brought me back from the brink of sheer panic, helped me breastfeed DD, and in my opinion, got us both through that night.
I’ll never forget her.

The paramedics who made the effort to make sure we had the things we needed when we were scooped up and rushed into a and e with ds. They packed up nappies and wipes for ds, dd's shoes and a change of clothes for me and made sure the house was locked up. I would have been stranded in a and e with a phone with a dead battery in vommit soaked clothes with very poorly 6 month old ds and a shoeless hysterical slightly traumatised 3 year old until dh managed to get to us. All I cared about was getting there. Made sure to locate a phone charger too before leaving us.

The memeber of housekeeping who remembers ds everytime we've been addmited and knows he can be almost always be tempted by ice cream when he won't eat. She's so friendly and kind bringing extra toys from the playroom for him when he was too poorly to leave hdu or his bay. She also rushed in the moment things settled down to give me a hug saying she had to hold herself back when the emergency alarm went off so she didn't get in the way and was as relieved as me that he was alright. And still asks after him when she works with the scbu nurses we socialise at toddler groups with.

Ds consultant is a fabulous lady who is very clear she's avaliable at anytime to talk to other doctors about her patients even when not working. The only time she was out of the country and was not she had left a detailed list of just incase instructions covering everything she could think of. Then called us when she was back from her holiday to apologise for not being there and check ds was on the mend.

The scbu nurses I know from toddlers who brought in care packages for me when they saw ds had been addmited.

The hdu nurse who realised I wasn't really taking in what the doctor was saying so say with us and explained everything again when I was less shocked.

The play worker who got me and ds through ct and mri scans.

I was sitting by my dh's bed in after he'd had a nasty RTA. High five to the lovely HCA who noticed I hadn't eaten anything for hours. She went to the staff kitchen and made me a sandwich and a cup of tea. So thoughtful - I was so grateful.

The lovely anesthetist who put me under for my section, he stroked my head and told me they'd look after me.. told me I will be out of pain soon.. which was a welcome tonic to the bitch consultant making me feel stupid for choosing a section.

The post-natal nurse who got me up from the bed after said section, walked me to the toilet and started cleaning all the blood from between my legs.. I apologised for making such a mess and she stopped and said "you don't need to apologise, you are a perfect patient. I love you!" as she's cleaning my bloody vagina

So different to my second section where the nurse was quite cold and not reassuring at all, and another nurse with her fainting at the sight of me in a gown leaking blood! Not a reassuring experience when you're at your most vulnerable.

I have another..

The kindness of the NICU nurses when my Dd was born prematurely.

I was young and absolutely terrified.
I'd had no sleep and had just been told that Dd had been assessed and that she had several of the markers that pointed to Down Syndrome.

I went to the parents room and broke down in tears from exhaustion and fear, I cried myself to sleep on one of the sofas in the room. I awoke to find myself with my head on a pillow and covered with a blanket.
The nurse who covered me over popped in to check on me and made me a cup of tea, then gave me the biggest cuddle ever.
The type of cuddle that literally fixes all the broken pieces back together.
She said to me 'you can do this, that little girl in there needs her mummy, I know you can do this. No matter what.'

She checked on us every time she was on shift until Dd was discharged.

An angel.

Hard to know where to begin. The incredible ICU nurse who sat with me and my sister after our dad died, let us spend time with him alone, wiped our tears, explained everything that happened si we could understand and told us his last words.. she was holding his hand when he died.

The wonderful theatre nurse who talked to me every moment while I was having a lumber puncture under x ray. I had to wear a blindfold as I had photophobia at the time. I was terrifed not being able to see where I was or what was happening but somehow this amazing man made me feel like it a trip out with a good friend .. whilst being punched in the lower back!!

Tge lovely midwofe who came to me at 4am the night dd was born and showed me how to breastfeed lying down. We must both have fallen asleep because next thing I knew it was 6.30am and she was telling me she'd moved dd to cot by bed and she'd had a lovely long feed while I was sleeping!

Ive been lucky enough to encounter some fabulous health professionals

The NHS are absolutely wonderful. After DC2 I had Primary PPH and ended up in the HDU. I remember the consultant who saw my fear of needles and weakness so insisted on putting me under to reduce my stress (and the risk of me passing out again with a needle in my spine). I remember the calm, competence of the surgeon who explained to me what would happen. I remember the Midwife who had delivered my baby telling me she'd stay with me and hearing her next to me - talking to me quietly - until the general anaesthetic kicked in. The staff who responded to the emergency alarm for me all coming into check on me that night and the following day. The lovely night shift midwives - when I'd returned to ward - who looked after my baby in the office so I could sleep. The wonderful student who had spent time with me before induction coming to check I was okay and changing the baby because I couldn't manage.

I'm grateful to the Midwife who made my Mum a cup of tea and gave her a hug whilst I was in theatre.

The NHS is amazing and the Doctors and nurses and midwives who made me laugh, looked after me or explained things to me - including drawing me diagrams - made a truly confusing and scary time manageable