To be shocked at infection control at hospital

[Trumpety]

So I had to visit A&E this morning. AIBU to be shocked at lack of infection control?

1. No masks or hand sanitiser available as you walk in. Just a sign asking you to wear a mask or ask at reception if you don’t have one

1. No sanitiser available anywhere in the A&E reception / waiting area. I went looking for some as I didn’t want to go rifling through my bag to find mine - I could only find a single empty bottle

1. No one checking temperature on the way in. I didn’t have my temp checked until I saw the triage nurse after about 10min

1. Signs up at the X-Ray reception saying “please remove your mask so our receptionists can understand you properly”!

1. “Red” area and “green” area at X-ray separated by a divider

1. Still no sanitiser available anywhere in X-Ray

I’ve known 3 people to contract CV19 in hospital and I completely understand why now

I work in a hospital, hand sanitizer was being stolen so it was removed.

Anyone entering has to wear a mask

People carry Covid with no symptoms so temps not really reliable

Vending machines are cleaned down every two hours

Covid is spread by patients coming in referred from other hospitals

I don't think this is nationwide. I went to hospital recently and everyone was masked, there was hand sanitiser at every threshold (like usual tbf) and there were mask dispensers mounted to the entrance and also just loads on a table inside reception. There was also a little platoon of cleaners beetling round cleaning down the handles on all the doors.

yanbu apart from the first point.
everyone should have their own masks and put them on before entering a&e.

I've had to go to minor injuries three times during this, and it is the complete opposite of what you describe.

@Trumpety

Yes. I can only think it’s because the staff have all been vaccinated so don’t care anymore

It does seem to vary massively trust to trust. We have volunteers on each entrance to remind people to wash their hands (We installed sinks at every entrance or locked the door if that wasn't practical) and then take a mask. All clinical areas patients have their temp taken. All staff have to wash hands and then mask on entry to the building. However I was a visitor at another local hospital recently and very similar to your experience OP

gel dispensers are normally fitted to the walls at regular intervals and you cannot go far in our hospital without finding one, although the task of keeping them filled up is almost impossible! Anything not fixed gets nicked pretty quickly which is depressing. Many hospitals have volunteers dispensing masks at the entrances.

I took my dc to A&E and found it similar. You had to press a button to open a door and then touch the door itself. There was no hand sanitiser and judging by the queues at the door, there would have been hundreds of people touching the door that day. There were whole families waiting and wandering about and using the toilets. No cleaners visible.

I have been to A&E a few times in the last year and each time they have had a security guard and another member of staff at the door asking everyone to remove their own mask and put a surgical one on. Then ensuring everyone used the sanitiser provided. It was incredibly well organised and we received fantastic care.

The forehead temperature checks have been widely proven to be pointless.

They don't pick up any asymptomatic spreaders. In hospital you will have attenders with temperatures for a range of reasons and everyone admitted has a Covid test anyway.

We have the temp checks at work - picked up one person who confessed they knew they shouldn't have come into work as they were ill. Didn't pick up all the people who tested positive when we introduced testing and turned into an outbreak site.

It looks nice but it doesn't do anything.

Tbh I still can’t get over the fact that staff in physical contact with patients are only given surgical masks and not ffp2 to actually protect them.

So different from my experience. Temperature checks at the door, mask insistence, I take my own sanitiser anyway so don’t use a bottle 700 other people have touched. It just vary, if I also had a covid test as I entered as part of a study to see how many asymptomstic people were attending hospital.

I broke my arm in December and have visited three hospitals since, 10 times in total I think.

A&E at local hospital one was very Covid secure. Preliminary triage outside, proper triage in a a portacabin with temperature taken. Then finally allowed inside. Most chairs removed, nobody allowed in except the patient etc.

Referred to big city hospital (in an area where Covid rates were and still are some of the highest in the country). You wouldn’t have known there was a pandemic on. Anyone could wander in and it felt very busy and chaotic (ie normal pre-pandemic). Lots of people in big family groups. Sanitiser dispensers on the walls at the entrance but only the people working there seemed to be using them. Standing room only in some of the waiting rooms, social distancing impossible.

Similar experience at hospital 3 but less people so it didn’t feel so scary.

Having said that I didn’t catch Covid despite spending hours being there in various waiting rooms,

Well this thread certainly explains a lot of things.

All the staff and patients then go out and potentially infect or reinfect the general population.

Between that and airports, the UK will be one of the last countries out of possible lockdowns and the pandemic.

Probably isnt all hospitals to be fair.
My DH was an outpatient in one, and it was all done meticulously[small cottage type hospital].

Perhaps getting to a point where hospitals that are lax should be named. That should temporarily at least, cause them to up their game.

I had a planned section in October. Had covid test/isolated prior. My husband was allowed into theatre only. They rang him to come in when I was prepped & ready. No temp check or even scrubs provided! Baffled me.

I had occasion to visit my local A+E last month.
Security on the doors checking appointments and giving out masks.
Sanitiser and sinks everywhere so you could gel/wash hands.
Separate area for people with respiratory problems/suspected covid, you walk into A+E straight into a room where you speak to a nurse about why you are there and they direct you to one of the two waiting areas. The "red" area has it's own X-Ray department, the "Green" area uses the main hospital one.

Your hospital sounds pretty shocking to be honest.
Also I was advised that if possible, after attending I should stay at home as much as possible for 10 days (I was able to do it as I wfh, but understand not everybody can and it's not a legal requirement anyway)

Some of what they're doing is just box-ticking and pointless.

My OH needed to visit the next town's hospital for an oncology appointment (no "hands on" treatments, just a meeting with an oncologist). I asked if I could go and sit in as his "carer" as there's usually a lot to take in and he sometimes forgets or things go over his head. Told no problem.

Then told he would need a covid test 2 days before. Fair enough, I asked if I needed on two as I'd be going in and sitting next to him in the waiting area and consultation room, so it would make sense I needed one too. The consultant didn't know (!) and said she'd find out. She rang back later and said no, only the patient!

Anyway he had it done, negative result, so we went to the appointment. No one on the door to the hospital, no one on the door to the oncology dept, no one checking temperatures, no one asked to confirm he'd had a negative covid test. Both sat in waiting room for about an hour with other cancer patients awaiting their treatment. No sign of any social distancing between staff. Finally into the consultation room - a tiny cubicle, the two of us, the consultant, and a trainee observer - none of us were 2 metres from the others.

The only person who asked why we were there, whether we had an appointment, etc., was the guy supervising the car park to check that it was only hospital users parking there! You can tell where their priorities lie!

You can leave a review of any hospital on the NHS website www.nhs.uk/Services/hospitals/Overview/DefaultView.aspx?id=1743

Did you raise and of your concerns with the hospital staff, or wait til you got home to post here?

They probably haven’t had chance to restock the masks and sanitizer, or weren’t aware it had run out. Also there’s been an ongoing problem in my hospital with people repeatedly stealing these! As a PP wrote, alcohol dependant people WILL drink the hand gel. I worked on a ward (pre covid times) with detoxing alcoholics and we regularly had to hide the hand gel!

Temperatures aren’t routinely taken when entering a hospital (not in my trust anyway) but of course the triage nurse would as part of their assessment.

I can only comment on my x-ray department which is very small and only one entrance with a similar sounding set up to the one you describe. The staff will be thoroughly cleaning between patients and if they know a covid positive patient is entering they will use it solely for them, then wait 20-30 minutes post cleaning before negative patients are allowed in.

To say staff aren’t caring anymore as they’ve all had the vaccine is utterly disgusting, disrespectful and you should be ashamed of yourself for writing such a thing.

I've an elderly friend who had shielded for the full year, got taken into hospital in an emergency and got covid. I had thought he'd be safe in hospital.

You've got more chance if catching it in hospital it spread like wildfire throughout our hospital, patients and staff

I don't think their priorities are misplaced at all. They are exhausted, though.

There is no social distancing at the hospital. What can they do.