You can’t recover in hospital

[Schuyler]

I’m not complaining about the care which has been exceptional. I just think the environment is not conducive to recovery. Unfortunately, I’ve been admitted to 5 different hospitals over the last few years and I’ve seen the same thing in all.

The temperature is unstable - either far too hot or far too cold.

The food can be virtually inedible. It is certainly not nourishing! Longish admissions mean I work my way through the menus. I’m fortunate to have almost daily visitors who can bring me food but many people don’t have this luxury. If you’re taken for tests when the food arrives, you might end up with cold food or melted ice cream.

It’s noisy and impossible to sleep and too bright. I understand why they need some lights on and obviously they can’t help beeping and confused people calling out.

I don’t think there’s a real answer but people look at me like I’m an alien when I tell them I tend to get better much quicker at home! AIBU?

[Bloodybridget]

notanotherbox very glad to hear you are having such good care and good food; if you have to be in hospital that long at least you can sleep and eat in comfort! Wishing you a good recovery.

[PerfectionistProcrastinator]

I had no idea how true this was until I had a weeks stay in hospital last year.

Earplugs were my sleep saviour! The food was still rubbish though. One eve as my appetite was just starting to come back DP went and got me a couple of dishes from the local Chinese takeaway. Bliss!

[NotanotherboxofFrogs]

Im currently in hospital, Im now into week 5 of my stay and will be here at least the same again.

This is an NHS hospital and Im on a specialist unit as an out of area patient-funded by my home health trust and so regular visitors are not really possible for me due to distance. (Im in a different country to my home)

The food is excellent, there are core menus and then can pick off other menus as well.

The place is spotless. Meals can be taken in either room or in dining room.

Rest is encouraged and last obs are before 10pm at night.

Visiting time is one hour afternoon and evening. Things are kept as quiet as possible.

The night staff after night time meds and obs you never see or hear them unless you need them and its press a buzzer.

I slept last night with my bedroom room wide open, I never heard a thing after 10.30 pm and it was the next room along whose door banged slightly.

Im also beside the nurses' station. I needed a nurse during the night and pressed the buzzer and one appeared in less than 10 seconds.

Admittedly its a specialist unit and not an acute ward but I have nothing but praise for the NHS and this ward is top of its game.

[WhoTellsYourStory]

@thesuninsagittarius Oh my God, the people on my ward has a long conversation about me being "snobby" for being the only one with my curtains shut. It was awful - I just cried listening to it.

Hospital wards are vile, they really are.

[thesuninsagittarius]

Life, frisky life! Not like

[thesuninsagittarius]

The last time I was in for pneumonia (on IV antibiotics) Iwas the youngest person in a bay filled with elderly ladies. I don't know what was worse; the one opposite me who talked NON-STOP at me, tried to join in when my then husband and DC came to visit and made loud passive-aggressive remarks when I just closed my curtains and ignored her. When I mentioned this to a nurse he said 'she's lonely.' Well that's not my problem to solve! I was driven crazy by the lack of privacy and having to share space with people like this, not to mention the ones who snored all day then sprang to frisky like at night and roamed about shouting and flinging your curtains open, or trying to get in the bed with you! I have never felt so vulnerable or stressed as I have when stuck in hospital. I get chest infections frequently and have chronic bowel disease but I won't let them send me to hospital if I can help it. If I could afford/be assured of a private room that would make all the difference. There seems something barbaric about being expected to sleep in the same room as half a dozen strange people.

[Schuyler]

@Rememberallball

I’ve found the hospital wards I’ve been on to be very clean for the most part. I have no complaints about that but I’ve never been on a ward that’s not noisy with visitors. I understand people want - and often need - their visitors but just the presence of more people makes it noisy and I usually want to sleep in the afternoons but can’t.

I am home now and much better than I was but pushed to be discharged, probably sooner than suggested because I was getting really low and even more immobile in bed. It’s hard. I know they try their best but the environment makes my mental health take a dive.

[Rememberallball]

@myself2020, yes I’m the UK - in an area where there are only 2 hospitals in an area covering a fair bit of 2 counties.

[WhoTellsYourStory]

I was on a ward for 2 weeks after major surgery during last year’s heatwave. I had a fever (40 degrees) but staff couldn’t keep the windows open as the other patients kept complaining of cold. Eventually I resorted to asking for wet paper towels. It was miserable - I’ve vowed just to die next time rather than be admitted.

[makingmiracles]

I was lucky last year, after being on pre surgical ward which was stifling and crowded, I got moved to another ward before having my op And I had my own room, own bathroom and the food was amazing, I was in for two weeks and couldn’t of been more comfortable.
I do think eye masks and earplugs are a must for any hospital stay though, even if staff are quiet, you’ve got machines beeping etc

[myself2020]

@Rememberallball in the uk? you had a luxury experience. reality is more 2 pieces per toast per day count as food, you get woken every 20 minutes, and can’t shower for days (as the only shower is also the visitor loo, so always busy). horrible

[myself2020]

Hospital is a special kind of hell. you don’t get any more than 20 sleep in one go, constant light on and nobody cares about visiting hours. horrendous

[Rememberallball]

I was in hospital for 3 weeks following the birth of my twins last month. I was really worried about what it would be like after all the horror stories I’ve read on here.

As I’d had twins I was given a side room and the twins were in incubators in my room with me. We were cared for by a midwife, 2 nursery nurses and an MCA. They helped as much, or as little, as you needed them to. They were polite and pleasant on the whole and, the one person who was an issue, was not allocated us after a complaint was made. Drs were also happy to discuss and agree plans with us as patients/parents and work at our pace.

The ward was busy but not unnecessarily so; partners and children of patients had unlimited access to the ward but other visitors were restricted to 4-7pm daily. Some patients had more than 2 visitors at a time but staff did tell them to leave when they disturbed others on the ward. There were no TVs on the ward so no loud programmes on all day and night.

Food was from a menu of maybe 12 options daily and, when served, was hot and generally well presented. If you couldn’t get to the dining room they would bring it to the bedside. There were snacks (sandwiches, salads, cheese & biscuits, fruit, yoghurts & jellies) available 24/7 and staff came round with hot drinks 3-4 times a day with cakes or biscuits plus they were available at mealtimes.

The bathrooms were clean, no blood or urine to be seen. Cleaners were present throughout the day/evening and kept the place looking immaculate. The temperature was neither stifling or cold and there were windows that you could open to allow some fresh air in.

I left hospital feeling able to cope at home and not needing to recover from the experience!! I realise this is unusual but does show some NHS hospitals can, and do, get it right.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

YANBU.

Being woken up hourly for obs is a special form of torture, which resulted in really vivid dreams that I was being woken up for obs - so vivid that I'd wake up due to the dream and lose even more sleep.

Beds that are dreadfully uncomfortable due to the effects of other physical health problems (and a refusal to acknowledge that problem A can affect a person even though they're only in to be treated for problem B)

Insufficient pain meds, even when requested repeatedly and in agony

Crap food - last hospital admission they came around and asked if I wanted chicken or beef. When I asked for the vegetarian option they said no one had told them there was a vegetarian on the ward... No one had asked me about anything dietary either! Thankfully I was discharged just as they were scratching their head about what to do with this exotic dietary requirement.

[Dongdingdong]

Nightshift swap over saw nurses loudly talking about Nandos and asking each other to buy scratchcards when one of the ladies had pressed her buzzer for the loo at least five minutes beforehand. I dread to think what happens that nobody ever sees. Total lack of manners, compassion and common sense.

Just awful

[sleepynewmumxo]

I've been in hospital twice recovering from
C sections, and I got myself out there ASAP. It's a horrid environment (as much as the nurses are amazing)

[Schuyler]

@GrannySquares

My experience isn’t with torches and lights off. I should’ve taken a photo of how I was trying to sleep last night. The staff were so lovely and kept me company, chatting when I was awake but it’s not conducive to recovery.

I have a chronic condition and can spend a lot of time in hospital. Sometimes it’s very cautious and I probably could be at home. Plus, my experience is that it’s more than being disturbed “now and again”. It’s constant. :( not blaming the staff who are great and jolly me along when im sad and tired.

[Canuckduck]

Agree. Dd was in for a week last year and it was horrendous. Inedible, unhealthy, salty food that made airplane food look gourmet. Constant lights, noise, heat, rounds. At least 4 teams coming to see her at various godawful times. Impossible to sleep. Even with a private room we were begging to go home.

[Nat6999]

timshelthechoice I left hospital with PTSD & PND, the next week my blood pressure was so high they wanted me back in hospital, I was so hysterical that my GP agreed to treat me at home, I had district nurse & midwives calling every day & my GP every evening for at least 10 days. I have never been so grateful to anyone like I was to that GP, he was a hero. I still get nightmares now around ds birthday of being in hospital & ever since if I have needed to be in hospital have used NHS choices to be admitted to a local private hospital where I can have someone like my mum or late partner with me 24/7.

[timshelthechoice]

Of course being at home is better but if you are poorly and there's a risk your health will take the wrong turn then being in hospital and even perhaps getting disturbed now and again is better for you and your health in the long run.

YOu had a good experience, though. Plenty of people have not. It's not just 'getting disturbed now and again'.

[GrannySquares]

I have recently came out of hospital (thrice) and I had no issues. At 10PM, the lights go out and everyone to sleep. The nurses/HCA obviously go round doing their obs/meds, but they do is as discreetly as possible and use a torch if they need to see anything. Obviously you do get a little disturbed if you have to get your blood pressure monitored but can easily drift back off to sleep. Temperature I found was fine too. Not too hot and not too cold. The food I have no complains either! The portion sizes are a little bit small, but fruits you get from family members can fill you up and tea time I always order a jacket potato with a couple of fillings and a pudding for after.
Of course being at home is better but if you are poorly and there's a risk your health will take the wrong turn then being in hospital and even perhaps getting disturbed now and again is better for you and your health in the long run.

[Walnutwhipster]

@Schuyler. I'm glad ICU is hazy at best. I agree with the food. This is probably very outing but I had my entire stomach and duodenum removed so I spend a ridiculous amount of time on gastro wards. One thing our local hospital has if you have eating issues is a snack menu. You only get it if you need the extra calories and they don't make it public knowledge but it has lots of goodies you wouldn't expect on it.

[Schuyler]

Interesting comments about a private room as while it definitely does solve many of my gripes, I didn’t have a great experience in side room a few months ago. I seemed to have been forgotten about a bit and I was too poorly to get up and ask and I got worse before I got better which meant a longer stay.

[Skap]

It may seem trivial but when I was on a cardiac ward all the tea and coffee was decaf. Yet on the other wards there was no decaf so I got no hot drinks.

[Mitebiteatnite]

I've had a few inpatient stays in hospital in the last few years, and I can tell you the one thing that makes the biggest difference is a private room! I spent a week on the respiratory ward in Tunbridge Wells hospital and it was actually restful. TV (free, not one that you have to pay an extortionate amount for) and en suite shower/toilet room. Food wasn't the worst, but there were places downstairs I could get food if need be, they hooked me up with portable oxygen so I could get up and about. The best bit was they let me have DH and DCs in with me basically as much as I wanted. I got awfully tearful when they said I had to stay at least a few days because I was desperately missing them. I think they're probably not used to having young people with families on the ward, as it seems respiratory is almost exclusively elderly people. I felt really taken care of and it made a horrible experience much easier.


Sadly, the next month I ended up at East Surrey hospital in Redhill, which is as close to hell as I've ever been.