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?

See if they have a social media account and post on there! I’m in such and such hospital on such and such ward, is there anyone that can help me. And make sure u complain formally too. Yes at times the nhs is stretched but this does not excuse all poor practice!

@dipdye

Absolutely unacceptable!

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

Tens of thousands die needlessly in the UK from sepsis, tens of thousands die needlessly from cold damp housing - in a so called first world country, it’s horrifying.

@DrSK2

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?

Don’t you think it’s a false economy for the NHS to fob off patients until they deteriorate very badly? I feel they think it saves money but it really doesn’t, things just get worse and worse.

@HarrietteNightingale

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.

X a billion ☹️

How can it ever improve when people are so resistant and defensive and full of excuses? This low standard would never fly in a private company, why is it allowed in the NHS? Before people blame underfunding, Japan spends the same as us on healthcare yet they are 11 places ahead of us in standard of care and health outcomes.

@dieblauenStrumpfhosen

It's not nurse bashing. It's actual lived experience. I have had a fear of hospitals for years because of the way I was treated, and watched other vulnerable patients be treated, by nurses following an operation.

I am not surprised at all that call bells are being ignored. I've literally stood at the nurses desk for a significant amount of time being ignored in person. It's like you aren't even human to some of them.

The whole ‘put up and shut up’ attitude hurts all of us, there’s no need to treat the NHS like a deity and as if it’s beyond criticism, when there’s much in healthcare that leaves a lot to be desired.

I am feeling a bit sad about this thread. I know there are many excellent nurses. The negative comments are for those who are not so excellent, or just downright terrible. There are more good than bad.

I worked frontline alongside nurses in a paramedical role so I met and worked with lots. I still remember how compassionate some were, and how well we worked as a team to do things like wash a bedridden patient's hair. Not really my role but teamwork moving the patient etc was great,

I unfortunately I have encountered some bad when my parents were in hospital, and also when I was.

The worst was a very competent nurse but for some reason took a disliking to me I think because I complained about noise in my six bed room. My first night three different patients occupied the bed next to me and it was very, very noisy with bed cleaning etc. next morning, today spaced out I asked if there was a private room. The nurses didn't like that.

The one nurse was a bully. She said things just audible to me while changing my huge dressing. I had forgotten to wear a mask in the middle of the night going to the washroom quite far away (they so called isolated me for suspected C. Diff, so I couldn't use the bathroom in my room, I did not have it.) The bully nurse shouted (yes, really) my name when I was asleep and told me off, saying others wanted me reminded. She then threw a mask at me from outside the curtain.

Ok then, yes, I forgot. I could go on, right up to discharge where she made me wait until 6 pm, when all the others had gone in the morning. My doctor was surprised but of course had no ability to do anything.

I would complain but honestly I am scared to. I had a high profile job and I wonder if that was partly the issue as I had been involved in issues related to healthcare. Not in a bad way but they would not see me as a nurses' representative.

It bothers me still. I wonder if I was actually a problem.

But this thread doesn't do justice to the good nurses out there.

We hear NHS is hard working and sensitive. We pay huge tax to have a free NHS.
Yes some employed in NHS are excellent sadly some not so.

Im sure those avoiding your ward are not working for nothing, our tax pays for this.I agree phone the switchboard or 999.
Hope you are well and this is not causing you distress at a time you and baby need calmness.

The problem is that other than a warning, hcp’s get away with all sorts, literally taking the piss. In my opinion as a nurse it’s due to often extreme staff shortages and managers having there hands tied by not being able to properly discipline staff because of this and also fearing unfair dismissal cases. It’s a horrible cycle. You see the same people swinging the lead are the same ones going off on sick and just generally acting like ‘jobs worth’s’. This is a hearsay story so can’t be verified but I have no reason to suspect it’s a lie as comes from a df. Five newly qualified nurses from the same ward were caught with cocaine at a works party, quite open about their business by all accounts. The ward manager was at the same party and was aware what was happening. All nurses were reported and ‘investigated’ but kept their jobs. Apparently swept under the carpet because the ward is so short staffed. That in a nutshell sums up the flagrant arrogance and disrespect for the profession, perhaps knowing that nothing will come off it.

Hi
I used to work bank shifts as a nurse on wards (main base Ed and now community). It used to drive me mad when others didn’t answer the call buzzers. Pull the emergency and say l oops got pressed wrong one It’ll soon get their lazy arses running!

more BHS than NHS

We need to take to the streets in protest if our citizens are being left uncared for and ignored in hospitals. How have we got to this point in the U.K.

This is the wonderful NHS staff that everybody was sucking up to and worshipping for the last 2 years,I've worked in a hospital and a nursing home and if the nurses could get out of doing anything they would,most of the work was 'delegated' to the health care assistants,on many occasions nurses would walk right past a patient who was ringing the bell and would come looking for us health care assistants who were tending to another patient,just to tell us that so and so was buzzing and can we go and see what they want!,this happened a lot!!,nurses would never get their hands dirty.

@Glittersparkle76

This is the wonderful NHS staff that everybody was sucking up to and worshipping for the last 2 years,I've worked in a hospital and a nursing home and if the nurses could get out of doing anything they would,most of the work was 'delegated' to the health care assistants,on many occasions nurses would walk right past a patient who was ringing the bell and would come looking for us health care assistants who were tending to another patient,just to tell us that so and so was buzzing and can we go and see what they want!,this happened a lot!!,nurses would never get their hands dirty.

Oh do wind your neck in! The clapping has been slagged off on here several times so here's the truth...everone I know who works for the NHS found the whole thing nausiating, embarassing and hypocritical. It was a shameless smokescreen divert attention away from a systematic devalueing and dismantling of the NHS for decades and the fact that the same staff who worked tirelessly to prop this system up were now being asked to work through a life threatening pandemic underresourced. NHS staff realised that if the government or the public really gave a crap about them they'd fund the system and their wages adequately instead of a pathetic clap it meant nothing as we knew the contempt that the public had for us which has shown its true colours in this thread... This country has got exactly the health service it voted for and the health service it deserves. Go ahead and blame the tiny minority of bad eggs in the workforce and demoralise them even more if it makes you happy but the truth is you'll be sorry you didn't fight the right people when it finally goes private and you can't afford your health insurance along with your food and your energy bills... good luck!

@Dnaltocs

We hear NHS is hard working and sensitive. We pay huge tax to have a free NHS. Yes some employed in NHS are excellent sadly some not so. Im sure those avoiding your ward are not working for nothing, our tax pays for this.I agree phone the switchboard or 999. Hope you are well and this is not causing you distress at a time you and baby need calmness.

Phone 999?! Do you have any idea how distressingly overstretched ambulance services are and what exactly can a paramedic do if you're already in hospital?! This is disgusting, moronic and self-absorbed advice. I think and I hope you'd be laughed at and hung up on if you were thick and entitled enough to actually do this

Pull the emergency button - doctors and nurses come if ur seriously needing help.

However, ask to speak to manager / director asap

Go into the corridor and ask to see the matron. Then ask for details of how to make a formal complaint. That might get a reaction.

Aww Jannt86 you sound lovely and caring

@FebFab

Aww Jannt86 you sound lovely and caring

I am extremely lovely and caring. Just because someone's concern is directed at the bigger picture and justice rather than their own entitled wellbeing doesn't mean they don't care...

@Jannt86
Well said!
Reading the Op it could be anyone laughing , probably porters or cleaners.
All the posts saying go and find a Matron
PMSL
A Matron at night or on a weekend ? Hahaha!!!
There will be one, the Ops Matron who is likely to be busy dealing with horrendous short staffing and emergencies.
The Matrons KNOW.
They know that nurses are struggling, they know they are not able to answer buzzers swiftly or provide care promptly because nurses have been telling them for years via Incident reports.
As part of our code of conduct we have to do it.
We want to provide good care so we fill them in and to protect our pins.
Do you know why the Incident reports went from paper to computer,apart from efficiency of course, after Staffordshire?
Its because the Matrons just binned them.

Yes you read that correctly, they threw them away, they have covered up the issues in the NHS for years.
In my speciality nurses are leaving for the private sector, there is a particular skill shortage and so they are naming their price.
Leaving in droves.
@Jannt86 is correct
Complain all you like , they wont sack anyone and if they dare to try to blame nurses they go straight to HR and make a complaint themselves or leave.
We have the evidence that we have flagged the issues, they dont have a leg to stand on and they know it.
You have created this, you didnt listen , just carried on trolling nurses on sites like this.
Well done!

In my speciality nurses are leaving for the private sector, there is a particular skill shortage and so they are naming their price.
Leaving in droves.

Yes, that's what happens in all sectors and industries. Good for those skilled nurses who can name their price. It doesn't mean that patients in NHS hospitals should keep quiet about shitty treatment.

@HarrietteNightingale

In my speciality nurses are leaving for the private sector, there is a particular skill shortage and so they are naming their price. Leaving in droves.

Yes, that's what happens in all sectors and industries. Good for those skilled nurses who can name their price. It doesn't mean that patients in NHS hospitals should keep quiet about shitty treatment.

I didnt say anywhere that they should Read what I wrote . Nurses have complained for years on behalf of patients, they report these poor conditions themselves via Incident report forms. I have 100s that I have completed. Flagging that on this shift we were x number of nurses below safe staffing and due to this we were unable to provide care promptly, complete assessments and stayed late. All nurses complete them, its our duty and they are ignored, ignored for years and years. However the situation is now so bad that hospitals are on a knife edge. The sad thing is the very few bad apples are going to get away with it even more as they are now untouchable.

@FebFab you do know that nurses can be 'lovely and caring' and still resent their whole profession being denigrated by some random posters on MN. We are allowed to defend ourselves yet at the same time pull up failing staff and report clinically dangerous situations.
To call us all lazy and reluctant to get our hands dirty is a ridiculous over generalisation and factually untrue. The reason why HCAs do most of the back breaking work is because it's cheaper to delegate the work to cheaper employees with a smidge of training and run the ward with as few qualified staff as possible. Most of us enjoy caring for patients and seeing them recover but the obsession with treating the NHS like a business has taken the humanity out of the whole system. Managers are more concerned with tick boxes being filled and covering their backs against litigation than nursing patients. So stop treating us like the enemy. We are as frustrated as the patients.

I left the NHS because I couldn't tolerate this culture. During my time (I left in 2011) the split was around 80% bone idle waiting for their pension & 20% ultra committed but overworked due to carrying the 80%. I see things haven't changed. We desperately need performance related pay in health care.

@MsDataPotataYeah right. so the nhs only has 6300 nurses who work hard and 300,000
who don't ?
Performance related pay. My arse you worked in the NHS.