To want to know what’s the meanest patient you’ve ever had? A question for nurses and anyone else working in the healthcare industry!

[Bellad19]

I’ve only worked in healthcare for 5 years, but NEVER in my five years have I had a patient be horrible to me until today. I am baffled as to how somebody could be so RUDE to someone who is trying to look after them!!
Please cheer me up and share your stories of awful patients with me so I know that I’m not alone 😭 I’m a sensitive person anyway but for some reason today really got to me and I’ve just cried ever since I got home! I’ll blame the pregnancy hormones!!

I haven't had many rude patients over the years, often they might be angry/frustrated but it's with the situation rather than taking it out on me personally.

Many dementia patients have been rude and hit or clawed me, but they can't help it and thankfully are usually pretty physically weak so it doesn't bother me.

An insult that stands out was when I had a youngish female patient. She looked at my nails which were painted but a bit chipped, and out of nowhere said "nice nails, you slut".

It was so out the blue and weird it was more funny than hurtful.

@OhTheRoses

It really seems like your frustration should be with the person at the service that declined the referral. A nurse sharing the waiting time would suggest they were as surprised as you were it was declined.

Your crude dig at nurses makes no sense. Almost all MH teams (certainly all CAMHS) have MDTs, including doctors. There might be an allocated nurse/OT/social worker to the young person but they will discuss the case with psychiatrists who will see them if appropriate, certainly if there are diagnostic or pharma treatment needs.

Why did you feel the need to add this to a thread about nursing staff being attacked and abused? It read alot like you were proud of threatening to litigate.

@Festivecheer26 no it's not wrong BUT like I said it's not the nhs fault her DD was unwell. We all Should be thankful we get any help for the peanuts we pay!

I’ve come across a few consultants who bully their students on rounds. I won’t tolerate it from either in or out of the bed.

The patient who pulled the emergency buzzer to complain that the emergency buzzer and resuscitation in the next room was disturbing them has remained the most shocking moment for me.

Even after explaining it was a life and death situation and that by them pulling the buzzer the are diverting staff from helping with it they continued to moan. Never known selfishness like it.

So I work in mental health and in the last two years the worst we've had were a patient blocking all the door locks (on a locked ward) so the door couldn't be unlocked then setting fire to the ward, a patient smashing up the nursing office full of staff with a desk ripped off the wall and a visitor who couldn't see the patient they were visiting so smashed the window of a door and held the glass up to a staff members throat. Working in mental health you get a lot of violence and aggression but all three of these incidents were far worse, and all done by people who knew what they were doing.

Not a HCP, but mum to a DS whose spent a lot of time in hospital - I'm always astonished at the genuine care shown by everyone involved. And disgusted by the attitude of many of the families of patients. I don't know how you all do it.

I've brought in tins of biscuits, baked shortbread & given bouquets of flowers as a tiny token of my thanks. When my son was discharged from Gt Ormond St when he aged out, I wept hugging his surgeon & head physio. They were such a huge part of our lives.

Reading your accounts of abuse just makes me wonder how the NHS still runs.

With regards to PPs comment about crash teams - DS was brought in to A&E in ambulance & 2 crash teams waiting. I was understandably worried & upset - but it was like watching a well choreographed ballet. And I was even offered tea as they helped DS.

Not being a HCP, I have however been asked several times what branch of medicine I'm in because I became well-versed regarding DS' health. But I'm better known on his old ward as a fainter. 😂

Thank God we have all the angels that work for the NHS or similar 😇 I have had lovely people seeing to me and my family whenever I and my family have been in hospital

I was once called nurse 3 times by a patient, and when I explained I was a doctor he told me women these days were getting above themselves.
He was in his 60's and had no (clinical) cognitive impairment...

Perhaps all the very vocal complainers would like to do something positive and change the system from within. Train, and then work in the profession you have most issue with. Please do, it's rarely too late, and mature students are often very welcome.
Just a suggestion.

Why would anyone expect a nurse to diagnose even when they are aware (through their experience and they have far more interaction with patients than anyone else) they can’t and won’t be saying to a patient or their family oh i think the diagnosis is xyz. The consultant will most certainly rely on a nurses experience and feed back in the situation but it is the consultant that will diagnose and advise on the treatment

I work in forensic mental health (ex offenders rehabilitation) I am looking for another job because I can no longer deal with the politics. Senior management ignoring staff concerns and not dealing with people who are very difficult until there is no choice but to recall them. Dealing with residents that really should be in hospital or a setting where they are better contained unfortunately some people are just too unwell or too destructive and violent to live in the community and go round and round the system I am not sure what is achieved. But looks good to be able to report well we have worked with X and look how well they have progressed (few months later back in hospital)

And then having to deal with the families who just love to kick off at the various meetings held to discuss care plans and progression and the solicitors that want to fight the system but do nothing that is beneficial for their clients

On a rant no I am sure I shall have more to day later

Interesting comments. In CAMHS any potential diagnosis is dependent on the MH Nurse's dissemination of their understanding to the dr at the multi-disciplinary team. If the MH nurse doesn't understand that depression and anxiety can be co-morbidities with ADHD and only sees the patient once becausethe case is clised after the first session of counselling, pray tell how a diagnosis can take place particularly when the same nurse when told of the diagnosis laughs out loud effectively undermining the opinion of a consultant psychiatrist. The system is dependent upon the MH nurse correctly assessing the facts and sharing them accurately with the MDT. If there are competence issues on the ground, that cannot happen and twice my dd's symptoms were minimised to avoid adequate care being given.

It went to PALS and there was a full apology from the CEO and the lead psych fully accepted, gracefully, there were issues with the individual. This happened shortly after a cash injection of millions was given to CAMHS where I live and spent on additional bureacracy rather than actual care. Subsequently the service has been in special measures and there has been an independent review.

I couldn't do much more to improve the situation, complaint to PALS whereby the first response was patronising and ignored the key issues, meeting with Director of children's services and lead psych, written to local authority children's services and contributed to review, written to CCG about their underfunding of the service, written to my local MP. So I think I have had an impact on the funding levels and how services are delivered but that will never alter the fact that a nurse laughed over a legitimate professional diagnosis.

Also work in mental health, to be honest despite being assaulted etc the main issue i have is people being ignorant of the issues facing the nhs.

I try at all times to remember that for a family their family member is always a priority, but for me they are one patient of 30 on my caseload. Resources are so stretched that those 30 are incredibly unwell. We expect the nhs to function like a machine when really its ran by humans working at beyond their capacity.

The two latest complaints about me are understandable from a patient point of view, but unavoidable from a clinical point of view. Patients often hold me personally responsible and call for staff to be disciplined because of the hard choices that are made. First is that i didnt personally return their call the first day i returned from leave, and called the day after i returned. They were called by other staff in my absence and i was off for a single week because a close family member had died.

Ive had someone insist that i was fired because i had to change their appointment at short notice. Despite office staff calling ahead. This was because the house i was at prior to their appointment required me calling an ambulance as the patient had harmed themselves significantly.

People often talk about myself as an assessor "refusing to refer them" to services etc or "deciding not to" when actually that service ceased to exist years ago or those appointments dont exist. People genuinely at times dont believe me and seem to think i chose to withhold things

Its awful that needed services arent funded, that there are delays to care. I would be complain to the hilt, however Rather than all that being vented at the frontline staff, it should be going to lobbying or asking for more funding. Vote to fund more staff.

Its frustrating for us as staff when we spend all day listening to people tell us that our service doesnt provide enough yet no one seems to vote to fund it.

My best mates a mental health nurse and she once got punched in the face and then had shit thrown at her. That was pretty mean.

My sisters a doctor (5ft nothing and a size 6) and older gents frequently refuse to believe she's the doctor and consistently call her Nurse and won't listen to her.

@Patroclus presenting complaint tends to be abdominal pain as it is one of the hardest to disprove without further investigation.

They hope to see staff that they haven’t previously seen before and haven’t read about their previous attendances. Often they’ll just get up and walk out of the department if they know it’s staff who they have seen before and therefore minimal chance of gaining a prescription. Many attend multiple hospitals in the area and have markers on file to alert the ambulance service.

I suppose they think why buy drugs if the nhs will give you them for free!

The one that kicked me in the head and gave me a concussion was one highlight.

Or the one that bit the end of my thumb off.

I am a vet.

@OhTheRoses I hope you kept these gripes away from your child's attention...

Absolutely I did @gypsywater although she was present when the mh nurse categorically said therapy would certainly be delivered over the summer holidays and was deeply upset when she wasntold that would not be so - because, you know, she had summoned the courage to ask for help. She also told the nurse her troubles which did not include that she regularly got drunk on vodka, went to a different school, had a different dr and the letter was dated four days before dd met her. Overtyped but on my dd's record forever. Fortunately corrected.

The letter was addressed to dd. She was happy to sign the formal complaint. Tjey can't respond of course if it's a 16/17 year old because it's all confidential.

I do agree the young people shouldn't suffer more stress than they are already but it seems some of tjese Trusts are getting away with quite a lot by relying on requiring the yp to participate.

The people in the services, here at least, don't appear to give a damn. It. Has. To. Stop. And excuses need to cease.

@OhTheRoses

The OP started this thread to ask for examples of "awful" patients, if you want to rant on about how incompetent the nurses that you have encountered are, then start a new thread.

Regards, a gum chewing nurse

Many years ago when working on an extremely busy ward an elderly male patient said to me " I'm amazed you're so fat the way you rush around all the time ".

@OhTheRoses I'm sorry you went through such a tough time with your DD. I really hope things are better now. I know what it's like to be faced with the very real prospect that someone you love might take their own life and it's a helpless, bleak, terrifying thing, especially when you feel like you're trying to swim through treacle to access the care they need and the clock is running out. I can absolutely understand why you are angry with a nurse who falsified reports, dismissed symptoms and laughed at a diagnosis. I don't really understand why anyone in the profession would be defensive about that, as I'd hope the vast majority of NHS workers would have more compassion and competence. They certainly do in my experience.

Maybe it's just because it's not the right thread. It sounds like you are still very angry. Perhaps start a new thread and see if anyone can offer you some support?

My absolute worst was the patient who attempted to kick me in the stomach when I was helping her put on her shoes. I was 7 months pregnant.

I'm a learning disability nurse, I work with extremely challenging & violent detained patients.
Myself & my colleagues have had many injuries over the years, with at least 4 staff that I can think of left with permanent injuries leaving them unable to continue working (someone got thrown in front of a car by a patient).
It's a good day & very rare day at work when I don't get hit or have to write a datix.
My worst patient was probably the one that tried to drown me in the bath when I went to assist them, that wasn't the best day.
The ones who have managed to fool people that they have an LD so they come to LD services instead of adult mental health are usually particularly erm interesting.
But u know what, I've been a nurse for 20 years, I absolutely love what I do & I'm bloody good at it. I work with some absolutely amazing folk, the HCSW are the absolute backbone of the service. Working in such an environment u need to trust ur team 100% & I'm really lucky with the brilliant team we have.

@Elllicam I'm so sorry that happened to you

One of my nurse colleagues was called "fat and ugly" during a consultation by a well to do female patient ...it was simply said at the end of an appointment for no apparent reason other than to bully.