Hospital bed curtains

[CurtainsAllowed]

Is it frowned upon to keep them shut?

Just had surgery, was in a LOT of pain (thankfully being managed now) and I am constantly being asked if I want my curtains around my bed opened.

I feel and look horrendous and am absolutely not ready to be having a chat with anyone else on the ward.
I just want to be left alone

I see both sides.

Maybe there wasnt a side room. ive had serious problems with constipation and obstructions - when it gets to that point you just want it out, i wouldnt have cared if it was in a shopping centre i just needed it out, you feel like you're dying and it splits you.

at the same tme, yes there is no privacy.

a woman in the bed next to me was dying, overnight. i dont think there was a side room. it has stayed with me.

post-natal wards are such a joke, no one checks you anyway and you are being kicked out within a few hours and far too early to be safe!

No wonder the rates of breastfeeding are so bad, the amount of women I know who have given up in tears because they couldn't have privacy, it wouldn't have taken much for them to insist a bit longer in an environment they felt safe and comfortable in.

It's 2018 FFS, and we haven't progressed since Medieval hospitals?

Curtain i would recommend getting a light sheet and going underneath it, pull it up around your head for a couple of minutes to get some privacy. i know i shouldnt recommend that as they cant see you but thats what helped me, a couple of minutes under some covers so no one could see me.

I preferred Nightingale wards.
If you are really ill, you don't want to watch TV or read. But sitting or lying watching the going ons in the ward, passed the time. Last time I was really ill I was in a Nightingale ward that had been opened to deal with the winter increase in patients. I would have hated to be in a single room.
Some things I would much prefer private rooms. But I hate the assumption that private rooms are always best. That seems to largely come from people who are usually well and for who being in hospital is a short one off thing.

OP keep your curtains closed if you want to. Hope you get better soon.

I hate hospitals for this very reason. Noisy visitors, nosey people, people walking around. When your ill or recovering from surgery (or birth) all you want is peace and quiet, sleep aids recovery but it’s hard to get and sleep with so much going on. I discharged myself after having dd1 as I just wanted privacy in my own bed. I know not much can be done, not everyone can have their own room but being able to shut the curtains helps a little.

I fucking hate wards. It's very British thing; continental Europe usually has single or double occupancy rooms. Wards tend to be for day patients. I've only ever been in one when I had my wisdom teeth removed and I could go home the same day.

I'd much rather be on my own or with one other person. No wonder people hate hospitals so much in this country.

I also love that the medics think that the magical curtains stop all noise it is so humiliating to have everyone on the ward being able to hear what the Dr is saying to you when they are doing the rounds.

All that is needed is a thin partition wall. It won't take up that much space. They could even do movable partition walls so if they needed a bigger space they could have that option.

Yes I know we are lucky to have the nhs, but it is not fit for its purpose now. It is a degrading, humiliating experience but we are told that saying this makes us ungrateful.

Establishing breastfeeding on a busy ward must be very difficult.

I hate the assumption that private rooms are always best. That seems to largely come from people who are usually well and for who being in hospital is a short one off thing.

You've phrased that far better than I've managed. I don't think I've met a long term patient yet who was happy in a private room. One of the very first patients I worked with had been in that one room for over a year.

Hospital stays really are crap and they feel crapper when you're not used to them. But it you're not used to sleeping through other people's noise and haven't begun to value company over privacy, chances are you're probably lucky enough to be in good health most of the time.

That seems to largely come from people who are usually well and for who being in hospital is a short one off thing.

when I was really too ill to read or watch tv, which you shouldn't be able to do in a ward anyway, the last thing I needed was noise and seeing other people! I can't think of anything worst than the lack of privacy and dignity. Long term on a ward would destroy me.

Even when I was in full labour and pushing a baby, I was really self conscious of other people around!

Communal wards do not even exist in some places - again, apart from A&E and other intensive care. At the very least, you should be able to keep your curtains closed.

What is making things even worst, if at all possible, is the increase of social media. Not only people see you, and there's always one who wants to chat, but some have started to take photos and you feel even more self conscious.

I do not want to ban mobile phones in hospital, they are a lifeline to be in touch with the world, but I don't want to have my picture taken either, even if it's just a general pic of the ward.

When I was in hospital I kept my curtains closed 24/7 and woe betide anyone who tried to open them. I'm a very private and introverted person and didn't fancy having to talk to others, make eye contact or even be looked at. Especially as I looked and felt like crap.

I don't think I've met a long term patient yet who was happy in a private room.

I know at least a couple, who had to spend months and months in hospital, and spend a fortune to keep their private rooms and avoid the hell of communal wards.

Some of us feel they lose their dignity in public. Our hospitals are a shame, and they make people worst. Reading some of the reports is frightening, and looking at the number of hospital closure in my area, and the increase in population, I can't see how it can get any better.

Compulsory on my ward unless getting changed/ personal cares or mums breastfeeding. It does occasionally cause an issue when we have Muslim families, and there are male visitors or dads with other families in the same bay. But patent safety has to come first, and we need to be able to see the children. (Paediatric ward)

I kept mine shut 24/7 after my recent c-section. I was on a ward with some unusual and not all that nice characters though and also wanted privacy when trying to breast feed🤱 it didn't stop the unruly visiting children coming in and having a nose anyway at 10:00 at night 🙄 I think the new idea of open visiting at a lot of hospitals needs reviewing as it doesn't allow much peace and quiet for those who have just had a major op and would like to quietly recoup without noisy and often inconsiderate visitors and fellow patients chatting on their phones. Curtains don't block out the noise obvs but I found the privacy invaluable during my stay. Keep them shut if you want them shut!

I hate the assumption that private rooms are always best. That seems to largely come from people who are usually well and for who being in hospital is a short one off thing.

Rubbish. My grandmother died from cancer and was in hospital for years. She HATED wards. Due to the lack of privacy, and the large amount of visitors. She much preferred being in a room with one other person. She also was in palliative care for 6 months, in a room by herself, which she was perfectly happy with it as she could play her own music and read to her heart's content. That ward also had a communal "living room" so she wasn't alone all the time.

Urgh I remember years ago when I had emergency appendectomy. There was no beds available for me afterwards so they put me on the end bed of the mens ward - I actually cried when they left me there. They moved me in the afternoon, but I was ready to discharge myself because of that. I think they expect you to Ieave all dignity at the door sometimes. I hope you get some peace soon.

I preferred the ward. I wasn’t up to reading or anything else, but it was good to see people coming & going and idly listen to inane chatter.

It did make me laugh when they close the curtains to talk to you, like it’s some magical sound proofing 🤣.

I was very lucky that the woman in the next bed to me was lovely and in fact all but one of the women who came & went were great. We all looked out for each other and it really helped.

Curtains I hope you are feeling better soon. Go home as quickly as you can, that’s when the actual recovery begins - hospitals really aren’t the place to ‘get better’ 💐

I think there should be private rooms for childbirth. And everyone I know who has had surgery, but is usually well, wanted a private room.

But being stuck in a private room would have been awful for me. When you are chronically ill and in and out of hospital, you simply don't get as many visitors as someone with a one off admission does. I also was too ill for more than short visits.
I enjoyed watching things on the ward. And crucially another patient advocated for me when I was too ill to do it myself.
I was too ill to focus on reading a book, watching TV or being on the net. That was the same for all but one of the patients on the ward. But just the company of being around others made a difference.

And I do think hospital policies seem to be decided by those who are normally well. When in reality most beds are taken by people who are very ill and often in hospital. But they are too ill to say what they need, and so those who use the hospital the most have the least voice.

Rubbish. My grandmother died from cancer and was in hospital for years. She HATED wards.

Neither myself nor the poster you're responding to has claimed that all long term patients prefer bays. We're simply stating that it our experience it's generally the case.

To be blunt it’s an absolute nightmare if you die behind them as no one has noticed a deterioration. Lots of paperwork, finger pointing and a legal nightmare. Staff hate them being shut.

Iseethelight The last ward I was in had a communal living room too. It was unused as everyone was too ill to use it.

I remember being in hospital (3rd miscarriage so was on a gynae ward) - other women explained to me there was a lot of weeping on the quiet, by older ladies with cancer. I wouldn't worry about being self conscious about crying.

I don't think I've met a long term patient yet who was happy in a private room. One of the very first patients I worked with had been in that one room for over a year.

Seriously? If I were on a ward for a YEAR I'd probably throw myself out of the window! I can see there'd be some people who would relish the constant company, but surely everybody needs a bit of privacy now and again.

Since my cancer diagnosis 6 years ago, I've had the misfortune to have needed several hospital stays of over a week each time.

The last one was the worst, and has lead to having serious anxiety about having to go back in. The other times, I've been in a bay with 6 single sex beds, which was bad enough, especially when your neighbours die, but my last admission, I was put in AMU, which was a 14 bed, mixed sex ward, and the majority of patients were men. I was the youngest there by about 25-30 years, and several of the men were confused, so spent the nights wandering about and being noisy. One kept trying to take my wheelchair.

It was horrendous and I longed for a private room. Even talking about it now, I can feel my anxiety building, heart rate increasing, getting the shakes. I don't know how I'm going to cope next time I have to go in, but I know it would be easier if I could have a room to myself, so I can hide myself away.

I also hate the hypocrisy of the system, most wards are male-or female only (again, excluding A&E and so on, and that's how it should be).
As any visitors are allowed on both, male or female - and again, as it should be, what's the difference between a male patient or a male visitor when you are a patient yourself?

The lack of privacy in both cases is shocking, and some of us don't want to be in pain, in tears, half naked, sleeping in front of other people. In my case it doesn't matter if they are female or male, I don't want to be seen by random strangers, in my own bed or in an hospital bed, I am not a poor zoo animal.

I could understand the point of communal wards in some rough area, where you feel unsafe on your own when gangs pop in to rob your pockets, and take everything that's not nailed down. I mean, even the Christmas gifts were stolen from GOSH one year, so low-life individuals are everywhere.