To be fuming at a group of nurses at my local hospital

[Dingdongthewitchisbread]

I’m 35 weeks pregnant and went to local hospital for blood tests. They’ve moved the maternity bloods so you can go through a separate entrance. When I arrived I got a bit lost but a nice porter helped me find where to go, it wasn’t through the correct route but I still avoided the main hospital.

As I was leaving I didn’t know where to go as I hadn’t come through the new entrance so I followed the signs for the exit, got lost again due to all the changes and saw a group of nurses so asked them how I get out. I followed the exact route they told me only to be met by a security guard who told me I was in the “purple zone” meaning I was in the Covid zone and I should’ve stayed in the green zone. He wished me luck!

What the hell do I do now?!?

I can’t believe I’ve stayed home for 8 weeks for a group of nurses to be the people to put me at risk.

Yes.
The nurses deliberately sent you to the covid zone putting you at risk of catching it. Being in hospital weeks later. Increasing their work load.

It's very silly.
It's clearly an accident.

You didn't come into contact with anyone and could have picked up anything off any surface in the hospital (including the parking machine).

For those making out I’m stupid for getting lost. What actually happened was, the midwife who sent me for the bloods told me to go to the children’s resource centre at the end of the car park as it had moved so I parked at the end and walked to the building. There was just no entrance there, it was back by the main entrance at the other end of the car park and through a long corridor. The nice porter let me in through a staff entrance half way along the corridor.

I was following the normal exit signs on the way out, I didn’t see any new temporary ones at all and I was looking for them.

I’ve accepted I was overreacting but I definitely didn’t misunderstand walk up them stairs!

I’m sure I’m about to be accused at hating all midwives now as well!

You sound a bit melodramatic to be honest. What do you mean "what the hell do I do now?"
Nothing, absolutely nothing of course.

OP didn't walk into a COVID ward, you can't just wander onto a COVID ward. She walked into an area designated for suspected COVID.

And if she'd asked if the risk was absolutely tiny but she was still anxious, she'd have had different responses. But she said she was fuming as nurses had put her at risk. That's very different.

People are only ever 'fuming' on mumsnet, I've noticed.

Out of interest, why have you jumped on the nurses? Surely you’d be more pissed off at the security guard for being so flippant (or, As it seems from this thread, actively taking the piss with “purple zones” etc?)

hospitals are now in coloured areas, since before covid.
purple, green, not sure what else.
it is meant for easier directions.

covid is a different area altogether. it is known as red but is not accessible by anyone wilynily

I wouldn’t think it was possible to just wander right into the ‘Covid area’

yep, i assumed a covid area would have a BIG SIGN and a sealed door/those plastics door drapes and it would be VERY VERY CLEAR.

One could not just wander in along an open corridor?

example
www.nhsgrampian.org/nhsgrampian/files/ARI_Guide.pdf

What zone are you in when you meet the nurses?

I suppose you blame the nurses for you getting lost in the first place and then deliberately giving you wrong directions, because they've got nothing better to do than hang around in groups waiting to misdirect people who can't follow directions that are more than likely clearly signposted.

Maybe they were Russian saboteurs, dressed as nurses, to cause pandemic by sending unsuspecting people into the infectious zone?

It's the security guard you should be mildly pissed off with for making an unfunny joke.
The nurses did nothing wrong. The purple area isn't Covid, but maybe the area beyond the security guard would have been. Which was why he was there preventing people from going further.

I have no clue about the zones, I only know what the security guard said. There wasn’t any signs saying I was in a green zone anywhere I’d been either. And by that I mean, the hospital has it’s normal zones (which are a letter and colour) but no new Covid 19 green zones like the purple zone sign.

Once again, I’ve acknowledged I was overreacting. My gut reaction was the nice security man has given me a heads up at the danger I’ve just been put in because of the directions I’d received. I panicked quite simply.

BUT I now appreciate that I wouldn’t have caught anything from walking through the purple zone corridors and it was actually the security guard who made me panic!

Get a grip op. It’s your own fault, hardly the fault of the nurses.

What the hell do I do now?!?

Are you still lost?

I'm thinking the security guard meant good luck in finding the exits not good luck I hope you didnt catch covid!, you were not in a covid zone. You are fine and being a bit OTT.

Try to calm down. You and your baby will be fine, worrying over this and getting distressed is something you can do something about, what happened earlier happened, it’s over and you can’t change it. Lots of deep breaths and move on. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy you are both going to be ok.

when he said "purple" how do you know he meant Covid.

Covid is not purple for a start.
you go through the so called green area to get to the red area, but only staff can access.

I believe all ways into Covid zones are secure, so you most likely were not in one ans this would have been impossible. They don't just have one random security person on one entrance.

@OscarWildesCat - I was thinking exactly the same. Who knows how many lost people they’ve redirected if the hospital has changed the layout

In the nicest possible way I’m not sure why you think the nurses who work in that very hospital for at least 37.5 hours every single week would get the directions wrong over you, a first time visitor.

I get your panic but you a being vvvvvv unreasonable to be fuming at a group of nurses. You would have had more sympathy if you had said you were angry at yourself for getting hopelessly lost and upset.

I think you were no where near the COVID19 zone, because you couldn’t have simply wandered in due to the increased risk of infection in that area. There would have been, at least a security person at the entrance, but most likely locked doors, only accessible by use of a pass.

If this happened and he wished you luck, he probably meant with the birth of your child. He’s probably seen that much misery from the sidelines, he just hoped that you were ok. Now, calm down, stop blaming the nurses for something that you’ve misunderstood, because you probably didn’t end up in the COVID19 zone and have a nice cup of tea.