To think that some people expect too much from overworked NHS staff?

[Moomin8]

I'm in hospital to be induced. What they tend to do is put a propess in and then when your cervix is ready, move you over to delivery suite to break waters. I'm on the anti natal ward.

A lady in the bed opposite me yesterday has been here since Friday evening and since yesterday lunch time she's been complaining (and crying) over and over to staff that she was told her induction would take 48 hours and that this is not acceptable. She is not in labour currently. Her husband came in and then started a long rant about how he needs to go back to work tomorrow, can't spend his life in a hospital and that he knows someone who works at the hospital who told him the staff are deliberately leaving his wife til last.

I've heard people explain to them over and over that nobody can be in the delivery suite without 1:1 care from a midwife and that some midwives are off sick.

NHS staff work so hard. If people can't afford the Lindo wing I think they should accept that everyone is doing their best!

The unfortunate thing is that dealing with complaints takes time and slows everything down for everyone else. I get why people can be irrational in times of stress but I wish they would think a bit before kicking off

Completely agree @1WayOrAnother

I don't particularly want to hear them whining either for 30 minutes at a time.

I'm a nurse on a childrens ward and yesterday we had a lady who was kicking off because we wouldn't drop everything to find her a remote control for the tv, get her some parent bedding and the lights in the cubicle weren't bright enough.
No matter how many times we explained that we would sort out her requests as soon as we had finished dealing with the patients, she just didnt get it. Apparently we were all rude.
She was in with a small baby so none of her demands were for her child, it was all for her.

I think it can be very stressful though - you say people should think before kicking off, but the wait can sometimes tip people over the edge. I was supposed to be seen urgently under the “two week wait” scheme. I waited over two hours and then was told the clinic was shut and I would have to make another appointment. So a two week wait is now a five week wait. While I wasn’t rude to the doctor who told me this, I was quite upset and told her it wasn’t acceptable. She didn’t apologise - just said too many people had been booked in and they had all turned up.

She maybe getting contractions although the midwives won’t class her as being in labour and if she’s been getting them for 48 hours she could be quite exhausted.
I had a very long labour (a week) thankfully most of it a home and after a few days I was feeling grim.

I'm uncomfortable too @RunningAwaywiththeCircus and I've had a tough pregnancy but I'm not demanding stuff or banging on doors when other patients are in the loo.

Also, is it really much of a wait if you arrived on Friday evening and were kicking off by Saturday lunch time?

Hahaha - she was told her induction would take 48 hours? She could have 2 rounds of propess and still not be in labour, so whoever told her that was making big promises. If they want a Guarantee of when their baby will be out by, book an elective section.

Ps I hope your induction goes swimmingly ❤️

No. People deserve decent care and not to have other patients bitching about them and sharing their personal info online.

Induction is horrible, the waiting isn't fun and she's probably anxious as hell. You feel pressure to go into labour and there is literally nothing you can do about it.

The staff are probably over worked. They will be as fed up as her. This doesn't negate her suffering.

Im a A+E nurse. Ive come to realise and appreciate that mostly people kick off because of a lack of communication/unmanaged expectations. So often ive been asked how long the wait is to see a clinician. Its no good lying to people and saying 'soon', when the real answer is 3 1/2 hours. Most people dont articulate themselves particularly well when they're angry and in pain.

It sounds like this lady is annoyed, but, tbf she was told 48hrs. So thats the info shes going off. Her husband does sound like a bellend though

I'm on day seven of my induction and only just had my waters broken...

Unfortunately, people dont always realise that they are not the only person on the ward. No doubt she is uncomfortable, in pain and hormonal, but nurses can't work miracles and this woman's husband speaking to staff like that because he has to go to work tomorrow isn't acceptable. I would be very embarrassed if my partner behaved like that. Everyone wants a birth that is free of delay and complications, she is probably tired and anxious. Equally, being stuck on a bay having to listen to entitled behaviour would also be very frustrating.

Yes. Some people think hospitals are a hotel / restaurant a lot of the time. Don’t start me on the father of a patient, who literally 2 minutes after he arrived for a visit would always demand to know why we hadn’t offered him a hot drink 🙄. He lives 15 minutes away and wasn’t dying of thirst

48 hours plus! I was induced recently went from an unfavourable cervix to deliver in 2 hours.

To clarify, I was referring to the partner as entitled, seeming to think that him being in the hospital all weekend while he is waiting for the birth of his child is unreasonable. Also, statements like "I know people and you are making my wife wait deliberately " are not helpful.

Agree with you. I had to wait four days to be induced before a bed became free, but I didn’t complain to the staff because obviously labour is unpredictable and emergency cases have to come first. The hospital was packed and I’m sure they were doing their best.

At one point I even had the induction process started with a pessary and was given a bed in the labour ward, only to be moved out again and the induction process stopped twenty minutes later because the bed was needed for an emergency. A bit of an emotional rollercoaster but that’s life.

@Letsallscreamatthesistene
Totally agree about managing expectations, people often receive the wrong info or best case scenario when having procedures explained. It usually falls to the frontline staff to be the bearer of bad news about the reality and then have to deal with unfavourable reactions.

Just to add my two cents - when I was 16 I had spinal surgery and was in the HDU for 3 days afterwards, considerably confused after 12 hours anasthetic and lots of morphine!
I at one point asked the nurses not to tell me they will be by me in 2 mins if they meant 20 mins - just say 20 mins. I thought this was reasonable but it must have sounded really awful as two nurses sat down next to me to explain that they can't respond to everyone right away, they were busy etc. Pretty bad memory as I felt completely misunderstood - I honestly meant that I didn't mind waiting, just wanted to be told how long approx!
But I probably sounded pretty bad.
People in labour, active or not, don't neccessarily mean to sound as bad as they do. I know, I'm pregnant with my third.

Yes to the PP re expectations. Why do so many people seemingly lie to patients then someone else gets the flack.

For example I've seen 3 different consultants this pregnancy, 2 have said they wouldn't induce me due to previous CS. The last one I saw was adamant I could go through the full induction process just fine. I was confused, emotionally unprepared and quite frankly terrified. Who was telling the truth?

Don’t start me on the father of a patient, who literally 2 minutes after he arrived for a visit would always demand to know why we hadn’t offered him a hot drink

Yeah. That sounds like the father of someone at my daughters 5th birthday party demanding coffee when he arrived and talking to my mum and me like we were waitresses.🙄

Of course badly managed expectations don't help situations like this but the staff want ladies to be delivered quickly and into the postnatal ward just like we all do.