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?

Any case thousands of experienced HCP including myself are leaving the profession, mainly retiring. Our pensions department has never known anything like it. So unless something is done to improve retention the situation, including sub standard care is going to get worse.

Not the point, that's nothing to do with patients deliberately not being cared for properly by substandard HCPs. They have the right to expect to be treated with care and dignity.

Why are threads like this started?

Why are any threads started? The OP was experiencing a problem, she was asking for advice.

They have the right to expect to be treated with care and dignity
Absolutely!
Very few HCPs deliberately neglect.
Have you tried delivering care,dignity and respect also means in timely manner btw, when you simply do not have the resources to do so.
No colleagues to help, equipment is missing or broken or run out.
Every day, every shift.
Every day you are in physical pain, miss meals and even then you are blamed, blamed even though you run and use every time management skill in the book.
Tell me how you do it because Ive been a nurse for 30 years feels like a hundred and Im buggered if I know!
The answer is you cant, you cant be in 2 or 5 places at once.
Referring to substandard HCPs.
As I said very few deliberately harm or neglect.
The Guardian article refers to 400 HCPs leaving per week.
Burn out and compassion fatigue
Are we really blaming people for breaking down now?
Wow so much compassion there !
Honestly its got to a point now that they give zero fucks.
You reap what you sow

As a nurse I can answer this honestly. Yes, your being ignored. The truth is that in my experience an awful lot of nurses and healthcare’s will either be prioritising other patients care over the ‘likely/assumed’ needs of yours (which I don’t have an issue with because when we are flat out, that’s fair enough), or It’ll be down to complacency on that ward as a direct result of poor leadership/management and possibly training. In the end though, you can’t polish a turd.

I watch Greys Anatomy. I know what to do. You have to shout "I need help here. Get a crash cart and a gurney. Stat. Code blue code blue"

There’s good and bad in all professions I didn’t feel particularly well cared for when I had my DD, however, the pure compassion and caring of the nurse who cared for my GF when he was dying I will never forget and will always be grateful for. On the day he died I rushed to the hospital and the first person I saw was the lovely nurse she came up to me told me how sorry she was and gave me the biggest longest cuddle. She was amazing

It is so common in NHS to fob the patient off. Observed this so many times in various trusts. Call this out — say you feel fobbed off and not duly cared. You can raise a complaint at care quality commission. The problem is that you will be in their hands until & for the labour. Could someone higher up in that trust be nudged? Perhaps you/ someone in your family email the head of the trust?

Best of luck to you and the baby OP, you need to be somewhere where you can have confidence in the staff. I'm surprised they don't have you hooked up to monitors.

Before I read the full post I was about to comment they never do! Not even in the labour ward.
I think they take long due to under staffing or simply because they feel like they’re being nagged by new mom! Awful isn’t it. Just keep the buzzer going

@bitemyarsenic absolutely agree. I've just handed my retirement application in to flexi retire to 1 1/2 days a week. I say the country probably gets the nurses it deserves. Not much empathy around apart towards pets.

Hi❤️

Sorry wrong thread

Precisely why I left half way through my midwifery degree (as a 43 yr old) - I spent most of my time-off crying at the things I experienced as a student. Not anything I wanted to be part of going forward.

@HarrietteNightingale you can't see the connection between substandard care and poor staffing ?

@HarrietteNightingale

why not apply ? What's stopping you ? Decent wage, superb working conditions, very little stress, universal respect from the public, very family friendly hours, well staffed modern wards with adequate staff, I'm surprised more of you aren't applying ?

Why should she apply? You chose to, not her. Why are some of you unable to discuss this without dismissing people's experiences of shoddy care? If you're not one of these nurses, maybe don't be so defensive? We don't all have to tug our forelocks that you deign to lower yourselves to treat patients! You get paid to do a job, you have a choice whether to stay in that job or leave. Patients don't have a choice. They are vulnerable and in many cases upset and scared, in pain and missing family. Have some empathy.

This

Some nurse responses are inappropriate here. There are many hardworking, dedicated nurses, but just like any other profession, there are crap, uncaring, lazy ones. The nurses know that better than the patients. All patients want is help when they are at their most vunerable. They don't expect special treatment, just professional treatment. They don't want anything other than to be looked after professionally and treated respectfully. I have had nothing other than excellent experiences at Luton & Dunstable and Milton Keynes Hospitals, but I don't doubt that I too could easily come across a wrong'un, as they are in every organisation. When you get poor treatment, call it out, as much for yourself as the others who are too ill or too timid to do it for themselves. I am entering my eighth decade soon, and I know I may have to rely on my children to speak out for me, but I've trained them well!

you can't see the connection between substandard care and poor staffing ?

I can, but I fail to see how it relates to patients who are being deliberately treated like shit by HCPs?

Please raise any issues with PALS and consider formal complaint routes if necessary. Serious incident enquiries are being conducted into maternity provision in several Trusts so despite the positive experiences of many patients and staff there are also tragic examples of when staff or services have failed. Staff are overstretched and this needs to be repeatedly highlighted. Things like broken call buttons need to be reported especially if, as a PP suggested, one of the issues is that new call buttons can only be issued by maintenance during office hours. This is something that can easily be resolved if the right people are made aware. There are lessons to be learned from every situation and Trusts should take all of these on board. Please feedback negative AND positive experiences through official channels so that a clear picture of good and bad practice and services can be established and changes can be made.

It is so common in NHS to fob the patient off.

It is. This closing ranks behaviour we see on the thread from some is a big part of the problem here. Stop expecting patients to put up with being treated poorly. They're not responsible for any issues you have with your job.

@Justilou1

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.

Also email your MP and local Councillors - they were voted in to "serve" the community. If all else fails, contact a newspaper. You are not being rude, it is a hospital and you should have care. I hope you feel well soon💐

Past experience they probably are unplugged.

I am a nurse and had a similar experience on a ward when I was induced with my first baby and this is totally unacceptable. If you or other patients are in pain or need assistance and they are ignoring you, sitting in the office just watching the call bell they absolutely need to be pulled up on this. Yes nursing can be really difficult and hard with understaffing ect but from what you’ve said it really doesn’t sound like they have any excuses to me, you can usually see when your nurse is run ragged an from what you’ve said you’ve barely seen them. There’s a lot that goes on in the office like notes, hand over, mdt, calls, discharge paperwork ect but your patient care comes first, you just have to get back to the rest of it when you can, it’s called prioritising and they know this. I hate it when nurses give other nurses a bad name. Please report them through PALs. I hope your care and patient experience improved.

@BattenbergdowntheHatches

Stop being so polite for starters. I’ve been in your position and the bloody nurses were unplugging the call buttons so they didn’t have to answer them.

I like pp’s idea of calling the switchboard, otherwise a loud coo-ee and synchronized bell dinging by everyone on the ward should soon get some attention.

Hope you get sorted soon.

I’m surprised your post isn’t deleted, I thought everyone on MN was of the belief that all nurses are heroes and angels. I agree about the politeness thing, in other countries it’s seen as cowardice to be polite when complaining would change things for the better. I’m not saying you’re a coward, OP, you’re definitely not and you shouldn’t have to be complaining when you’re bloody ill. I just feel like it’s a cultural problem here, and it makes life worse for all of us, when people are able to complain they still don’t for fear of ‘making a scene’ or some such like.

I hope the nurses start tending to you and your room mates asap, OP and I wish you Godspeed with healing from infection and that your heart rate calms down. And with your birth when the time comes, in about 4 weeks? Sorry I’ve never had a baby so not sure x