Nobody answering the call nurse button.

[peachy3]

Not really an AIBU, posting here for traffic, just want to know if anyone else has been in this place and what myself or one of the other patients can do?

I’m currently admitted in hospital with an infection and high heart rate that isn’t coming down. Im on the Labour ward as I’m 36 weeks pregnant. There’s only 4 of us in this room and a few people in another room down the hall. I’ve tried to use my call nurse button a few times but it’s not been making any sound. I brought it up to one nurse who said she’ll be back with a replacement over an hour ago, spoke to another nurse who said the first nurse was sorting it and spoke to a third nurse who said she’ll go find out about it but nobody has come back. I’m in no way bashing the nurses or angry at them at all, they could have been called away to something important, but the woman next to me has pressed her button for me which works and nobody is coming in. It’s been a few hours now, I did go out a few times but was told someone would be coming in now and then nothing. I’ve decided to just wait it out a bit but the lady opposite me has been ringing her button, she’s currently having contractions, and nobody has been coming in. Her button works as it’s making the noise it should but no one is coming in to see her. I’m of course not a nurse but I’ve heard a lot of laughter and chatting out in the hallway which makes it seem like we’re being ignored. Is there anything I should do? I’m the only one not in labour so I don’t mind going out to say something but I also don’t want to sound terrible and entitled, I know how hard nurses work and would never disrespect them.

Any suggestions?

Phone the switchboard and ask to be put through to the ward.

I would go out & ask why no one is attending to anyone & say how long you have been waiting.

@JanetandJohn500

Phone the switchboard and ask to be put through to the ward.

This ^^

How long has it been since the working call bell has been ignored?

You need to get your call Bell sorted tomorrow morning, repeat it to the next midwife and keep telling each one that you asked 3,4.. staff members now since whatever o'clock yesterday and it's still not been fixed. It's unacceptable to have a broken call bell in a hospital bed and could have serious repercussions

Get up and go find someone. If not, just scream for help.

Absolutely bloody ridiculous

Go and stand at the nurses' station and say you'll wait until someone is ready to come back to the ward with you or phone the ward.

this happened to my dad a few years back he couldn't get out of the bed due to the surgery he had had. he was left for hours on a few occasions lying in his own mess as he ended up soiling himself as they never turned up to help him to the toilet. he would be so frustrated with the situation when I came to visit. meanwhile I would witness it take 4 nurses to change the bedsheets on an empty bed while they chatted about what they had watched on TV the night before. I was too timid at the time to properly complain but I certainly would speak up now I'm slightly older. please get up and get the poor labouring woman some help.

Press the red button behind your bed. You will have never seen them move so fast.

I’ve gone out and stood waiting for someone to come into the room and answer the lady in labour, the woman in labour is not impressed and has said she knew she’d picked the wrong hospital. There’s three in our area we can choose from, I haven’t chosen this hospital to give birth as I’ve heard bad things about it a lot, just sent here as it was closest to my GP and they were rather worried. They’ve come in to see her now as she’s definitely struggling more than myself so I’ve left it for myself until she’s finished with the woman. I’m struggling to stay stood up at the moment as I’m overtired and really quite uncomfortable due to my temperature and feeling insanely dehydrated which is why I was trying to call them in the first place. Hopefully this midwife will get me a working button.

I know it’s probably silly to be so polite and quiet in these situations but I the last thing I want is to come across rude to the NHS staff.

Also please mind my spelling and grammatical mistakes, it’s been a long one and I haven’t slept yet

I agree with angry mum press the red button. I’m a hospital visitor frequently and find staff lazy especially on nights . Once I was in a bay with 3 dementia patients while they found me a room after an operation. One of the ladies ripped out her tubes and was pressing the button for over 2 hours. The noises were horrific. I ended up getting out of bed and demanded they sort it as there was 6 of them round the desks eating biscuits. After that if I need help I won’t wait 2 hours .‘it’s beyond a joke.

So you are feeling unwell and becoming dehydrated as need some water?

There's more than one midwife on overnight. Can you catch anyone else's attention? Tell them this and about your broken call Bell and how it's still not been replaced after asking 3 different staff members yesterday,

That maternity ward is failing if staff aren't checking regularly on their patients in the units in ward including during the night and if any staff think it's acceptable to leave call bells broken or ignore call bells for long periods of time.

That might seem small things but they can quickly escalate when something goes wrong.

So please don't think of complaining as causing problems- it might save lives in the near future or prevent the loss of one

Whilst you are sat there tonight not sleeping, email the hospital PALs team (complaints), be factual and don't hedge it. When it's from a patient in hospital they have to act quickly to get it resolved.

Totally agree with emailing PALS, even if the midwives are busy this isn't acceptable. Hope you're out of there soon OP

Absolutely unacceptable!

This is the 21st century in a western country, bloody hell

You need to email PALS tonight. Not having an emergency call button is a failure of their duty of care. Not answering working call buttons is also. If they are understaffed that is a huge issue. If this is because the staff on duty are complacent/lazy/uncaring, this is a huge issue. Either way, it needs investigation urgently. Don’t allow them to guilt trip you. This needs to be investaged. This is how people die. (If you email tonight, there is less chance of a cover-up being made.) Please write in point form, that you established that emergency button was not working at x time because it was not making a noise and the woman in the next bed’s was. The woman in the next bed rang for you and the nurse on duty (name her and time if you can) advised that she would return with a new one. State that woman in active labour in room had been pressing call bell for x period of time and asking for assistance, and despite the laughter and chatting from the nurse’s desk, nobody has come into your room. You felt the need to get up against doctor’s orders and seek them out yourself as you were concerned about this woman’s distress.

Lots of lovely PPs replying and quite understandably indignant on behalf of OP and the other lady in labour.

Please remember OP is pregnant, feeling unwell and on a maternity ward . Gentle responses needed!

We don't want a MN caused spike in her blood pressure!!

OP hope you are sleeping now and were brought some water . Good luck tomorrow in getting call bell sorted out. However you need to.

Hey! I’m sitting at a Nurse’s station right now - none of my call bells are going, but if they were I would answer it straight away, apart from anything else the noise is infuriating. We also can’t disable call bells by pulling them out, that makes them sound continuously.

You absolutely should be seen, don’t worry about being rude or assertive. I would feel terrible if any of my patients felt that they were being ignored - rightly - as it is my job to care for them.

Either call through the switchboard or get up and ask them to come and help - but please, please don’t feel bad, they should feel bad if they really are sat chatting. Although the only time I come across unanswered call bells in my hospital is when everyone is busy

or they are on mumsnet. why not start a thread that you need help.

@bigyellowTpot yes every nurse/midwife in the country was doing that during the entire pandemic. Pathetic response.

OP hope you get sorted.

How did it go op?

Taking to PALs might be best step

As a nurse here - absolutely go and tell them! Do not worry about being seen as rude etc. You and the others in your bay need attention and I would be mortified if one of my patients had been calling for so long without attention.

Regarding your broken buzzer as an aside, if it's overnight in my hospital the replacement buzzes are kept locked away by the maintenance man - so if it breaks overnight we can only report it for it to be fixed during office hours. Not saying it's not shit - but for that one thing that might be why it's not been replaced

This happened to my mother on a post surgical ward. A woman across the bed from her became very unwell and the bell calls were being ignored. My mother had to get up and go out and get them. The nurse were out at the test flicking through a magazine. It turned out that the woman was hemorrhaging and only for my mother she could have bled out. Some of these nurses are definitely not heros and are just dog lazy.