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

How inconvenient of patients who want to die behind curtains with a little dignity HoppingPavlova. And how inconsiderate of them to cause extra paper work

Motoko
best of luck, maybe ask the nurses around and explain your wish for a bit of privacy. Most nurses are really kind, and will try to give you the help they can. Even getting the bed in the corner, or near the window can make your stay a bit less uncomfortable.

You might even meet a patient that could be a friend in real life, you never know.

Scoopofchaff - don’t be obtuse, obviously if the patient is anticipated to die for whatever reason then curtains closed are not a problem at all. Also a side room is preferable again but it is what it is, you can only put people where there is room. It’s when people are NOT meant to die and do and no one has noticed deterioration so something ‘may’ have been done that’s the problem. Hence curtains open, everyone passing can see everyone at a glance without needing to wait until time for individual obs.

And yes, paperwork and kerfuffle when something like that happens IS a bitch. No one’s going to apologise for that.

Scoop Dying patients are always given a private room if one is available. I know it is not always. But no one should have to die on a communal ward.

It does depend on the type of the ward and the severity of your condition. It sounds as though you're feeling vulnerable and in a lot of pain OP. Most nurses are kind and accommodating if you explain how you feel?

A maternity ward is different though. I noticed a huge difference between having my first and second baby. With my first almost everyone had curtains open, it felt more pleasant and sociable and both mums either side of me were friendly. We used to watch each other's babies when one of us needed the toilet.

With my second baby, everyone had curtains shut on the maternity ward. It felt very cut off and isolated. Especially as I didn't have any visitors.

Of course I was being deliberately obtuse HoppingPavlova because your post seemed to sum up everything that is wrong with the system. All about the inconvenience for the staff; and nothing about the dying patient.

Note, I am not blaming the (often excellent) staff for that btw, but the system.

I've had two elderly parents treated on NHS wards for extensive periods of time in E. Anglian hospitals, and believe me, patients do die on busy wards far more often than you might imagine.

As others have said, the staff wish to cast an eye at regular intervals so they want them to be open!

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.

I think that's what curtains are supposed to give the illusion of. The option of a bit of privacy. It's not ideal really. But when you think, how much would it cost to build an 'optimum' hospital? All private rooms but with easy options for socialisation and presumably large windows to give nurses visibility with higher risk patients. Every ward would have to be massive. That kind of provision certainly wouldn't fit inside our modern day structures, we'd need to rip everything down and start again.

I don't think anyone here is being unreasonable at all in thinking that private rooms should be standard. I just don't think they're looking at what that would mean in terms of attaining that from where we are currently and they also underestimate how isolating it can be.

Seriously? If I were on a ward for a YEAR I'd probably throw myself out of the window!

Sadly, he was a highly infectious patient so there was no other option. I suspect if he were able to move though, he'd have come out a lot and been an infection control nightmare.

I bet that if being a MP, a Royal Family member, a NHS executive manager.. would exclude and your family members from using private rooms and private hospitals but would ensure you get the generic NHS treatment, miraculously things would improve.

No one cares about NHS patients, it's clearly obvious, the staff has do deal with the resources they are given, and it's only getting worst.

Shapely QEUH in Glasgow has that, rooms with two windows plus glass doors, day room on the wards too.

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

You obviously haven't met them all. Was in for 8 months with DD1, she loved her private room.

We had a patient on the ward for a year. Her mum stayed all the time. She lit up our lives, made us laugh, made us cry and made us cry laughing!

She hated being in a private room because she's such a character, she needed the interaction with people. Abd to tell all the dads in the bay that she was I. Love with them.

Ihavebrillohair The ward I was in had a communal living room, everyone was too ill to use it. It lay empty. Really ill patients are too ill to use a day room. If you are well enough to use a day room, you probably would want a private room. Because then you can choose when you are around people and when you are not.

Being in a private room most of the day alone for weeks and weeks would incredibly lonely. Remember people who are really ill are usually in and out of hospital, are older and usually don't get lots of visitors - especially during the week. My DP for example still had to go to work and works long hours. Younger people and people having a one off admission tend to get lots of visitors.

I am fine with people having private rooms. I am not fine with the assumption that that is best for everyone.

You obviously haven't met them all.

I'm not sure I needed reminding of that?

'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.'

More bullshit! How patronising can you get? Plenty of people can't sleep through noise because they have serious mental health problems and/or have conditions that make them sensitive to noise and for similar reasons don't value company of strangers. In fact, several people on here have shared how past experiences of these shitty wards with open curtains have impacted their health adversely and affected their recovery.

Crunchymint, I am really ill, I started the latest admission in HDU, I've been there before plus ITU and several wards in several hospitals over 8 years.

With my second baby, everyone had curtains shut on the maternity ward. It felt very cut off and isolated. Especially as I didn't have any visitors.

Same on the ward I was in. The midwifes were quite happy for us to shut the curtains - which was great in a lot of ways but I did think it was a shame as it would have been nice to chat to the other mums and support each other (I was in for 6 nights).

It won't be my last admission either, I have an incurable condition which will get worse, not better.

'I'm not sure I needed reminding of that? hmm'

If you're going to make sweeping statements . . .

HCPs like this are precisely the reason why so many patients have a problem with their curtains being open because, hey, bugger their needs, they are no longer the ones who know best for themselves.

I'm neutropenic and was incredibly happy to have my own room in hospital for surgery
Guess what time I got woken to ask my lunch choices? Bearing in mind I had cauda equina, 5hrs of spinal surgery and came round at 4pm

ONE AM. Light snaps on "what would you like for lunch?"
A) I haven't got a clue
B) I'm being discharged in the morning
C) IT IS ONE AM

expatinscotland

There really is no point in taking each of my statements and acting as though I'm applying it to each person in those situations. I'm sharing my general experiences as someone who has spent a lot of time supporting families in that environment as a professional.

But no one should have to die on a communal ward.

No, but they do. I've experienced 3 people dying on the wards I've been on. With one, I could hear them doing CPR and the doctor saying she should have got the patient to agree a DNR the night before, so that one must have been expected.
Another was a lady who didn't look like she would recover, so that was probably expected too.
Although the 3rd one was definitely unexpected. The poor lady was only in her 50s and had had her gall bladder removed. She seemed ok for a few days, but one day she was in a lot of pain and because she'd been given morphine, she was sleeping a lot, then she just didn't wake up. I felt so sorry for her family, who came and sat with her body (with the curtains closed obviously) for a while. I felt that they should have been able to do that in a private room.

Ollivander, they once tried to make me do a routine urine test at midnight and woke me up to do it.
I was not best pleased to put it mildly.
I was still there the following week and warned them that morning not to even ask!