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?

My teenage DS was admitted to hospital and ended up on a ward with a few elderly men.
It was dreadful, they would press their buzzers for help and no-one would come.

I spent the whole time I was there walking round to the nurses station to get someone to help. And whenever I did there were groups of nurses huddled round chatting and laughing. Every. Single. Time. Lazy bloody cows

It bloody infuriates me. Of course there are some brilliant nurses, some good nurses but there's an awful lot of bloody atrocious nurses.

But, you know, All Hail the NHS 🙌

I would ask to speak to the ward manager when you can and explain! If my ward manager/boss found out this was happening hell would break loose. If you guys have really been waiting hours pull the red button behind you, as others have said you will never have seen them move so fast. It's really not okay and on another note I don't know how any nurse can ignore the bells the sound is enough to drive anyone mad after 5 minutes.

If not too outing this isn't a large hospital in a town beginning with S? In the south east?

If so they've been behaving that way on that ward and the post labour one for years, I was last there in 2008 and left from 9pm to 9am with no bell, no curtain and when one of the other new mums spotted me and I explained, she went and got one of the midwives who had no knowledge of me being there. I had compression socks on and one had got caught round my big toe. It was going purple as it was cutting off my circulation. They also left me without breakfast, one of the midwives told me to get off my backside as I wasn't at a hotel. I was connected to a drip, had no bottoms on and had a drain in my section site and numbness. If someone else hadn't got me toast I would've starved as I'd not eaten anything since breakfast the say before.

I would start contacting pals now or ask to speak to the head of the ward and demand action. Sod politeness. The NHS gets away with treating people like crap because we are all conditioned to put up with it cos it's free.

Meant to say hope you are ok OP

@Wavypurple

The people encouraging OP to pull the emergency buzzer are absolutely deluded and have such a high sense of self righteousness it’s actually amazed me.

It’s for EMERGENCIES. Fucking hell 🤦🏼‍♀️

So what do you suggest? The staff are ignoring their patients needs and that's not on If they don't want a false emergency they should respond to patients bells.

I haven’t got time to rtft but I really wanted to add that my experiences in hospital (though not many, to be fair; 4 kids, a few minor procedures) have all been brilliant. I can’t fault the care I have received. I don’t really want to name (and celebrate) my local trust as it would be outing but there are some of the nicest, most caring human beings ever to walk the planet working tirelessly here.

I’m feeling lucky to have won this postcode lottery and also really sorry for those who have suffered on this thread.

@ThanksItHasPockets yes, I’m still pregnant with twins, due in 3 weeks.
It’s a possibility that I’m receiving better care because I’m higher risk. I have been in hospital a lot since 27 weeks and see a lot of the same faces.
However, I’ve been spending a lot of time in triage/on the ward and I hear plenty of other people’s care going on behind the flimsy curtains. I haven’t seen or heard anyone being left pressing their buzzer without care, everyone has been spoken to with compassion and a genuine attempt to help.
When I’ve arrived on the ward at 2am someone got me a jug of water for by my bed without me asking.
There was a loud snoring lady on the ward another night, the midwife came round with earplugs for everyone else.
A lady who received bad news about her pregnancy was immediately found a private room so she didn’t have to overhear everyone’s babies’ heartbeats on the monitors.
Those are just a few examples. There is a definite ethos of dignified care.

It’s obviously possible for NHS hospitals to provide an excellent service, I’m sure Wythenshawe maternity is operating under the same constraints as everywhere else.
This isn’t a Not All Hospitals Are Like That, it actually makes OP’s situation worse that other places under the same conditions can actually manage to provide excellent care.

Mixed ward high dependency, nurse rolled me over and shoved a suppository up my arse, all ok! but didnt close the curtains so all the men saw my big white ass. Getting a bed bath, nurse opened curtains and watched the other nurse do it, all the men watching too. I had to ask her to close them

I'm a student nurse. I've seen nurses ignore call bells pretty frequently on placement and there is no excuse for it. Don't be polite, go and find them then email PALS. One day it'll be someone in serious need of help and the level of care needs to improve. Yes nurses work damn hard, but I've met a fair few who are just bloody lazy too.

@Angrymum22

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

Do not do this. I did it accidentally once. I was pretty ill, all tangled in drips and my phone was plugged in. Pulled my phone and it knocked the red button. All hell broke loose, it was utterly terrifying and humiliating.

Reading this thread with interest as a nurse and also having been a patient in the past. I've worked in areas where call bells were going all the time, where you barely drank or peed, where you had to make impossible choices such as chasing up antibiotics before the GP closed or changing someone in urine soaked sheets and therefore not being able to get the antibiotics until the next day.
I've also worked in places where the culture and attitudes of staff were way below what you would expect and I wouldn't allow them to look after my dog let alone my mother.

I understand why some nurses feel defensive if they are run ragged trying to meet professional standards but failing through no fault of their own. However wards where a poor culture has been allowed to develop need to be identified as such so changes can be made and being defensive gets in the way of that.

[quote bollocksthemess]@ThanksItHasPockets yes, I’m still pregnant with twins, due in 3 weeks.
It’s a possibility that I’m receiving better care because I’m higher risk. I have been in hospital a lot since 27 weeks and see a lot of the same faces.
However, I’ve been spending a lot of time in triage/on the ward and I hear plenty of other people’s care going on behind the flimsy curtains. I haven’t seen or heard anyone being left pressing their buzzer without care, everyone has been spoken to with compassion and a genuine attempt to help.
When I’ve arrived on the ward at 2am someone got me a jug of water for by my bed without me asking.
There was a loud snoring lady on the ward another night, the midwife came round with earplugs for everyone else.
A lady who received bad news about her pregnancy was immediately found a private room so she didn’t have to overhear everyone’s babies’ heartbeats on the monitors.
Those are just a few examples. There is a definite ethos of dignified care.

It’s obviously possible for NHS hospitals to provide an excellent service, I’m sure Wythenshawe maternity is operating under the same constraints as everywhere else.
This isn’t a Not All Hospitals Are Like That, it actually makes OP’s situation worse that other places under the same conditions can actually manage to provide excellent care.[/quote]
I’m glad this was your experience but this doesn’t mean shockingly neglectful and cruel mistreatment of patients doesn’t happen. It absolutely does as evidenced by the numerous lived experiences being recounted here by women who have been treated abysmally.

I am truly sorry that people have had such bad experiences and take them on board and the NHS do need to acknowledge these complaints. However this is sadly what we've voted for when we vote for a government that's made quite clear that it doesn't give a s%#t about the NHS and has systematically been selling it off and underfunding it for decades. We as a country chose this so we have to accept the consequence. Yes in an ideal world your nursing staff should have time to meet any need that you have but in reality when faced with someone who needs the toilet (for example) or somebody who might die or might lose their baby which are YOU going to choose first? Also sorry but some of these aggrievances are actually laughable. Complaining that a nurse is waking your child to give them LIFE SAVING medicine which is probably the only reason they've been kept in hospital in the first place?! WTF seriously?! And lots of others are about not being bought drinks etc. Sorry but almost every woman on a labour ward in my experience is mobile and perfectly capable of fetching their own food and drink if needed. In fact it's actually good to move about both when in labour and when recovering from labour/c-section. And people who are visiting elderly relatives are definitely capable of providing basic care for that relative. It isn't perfect but for goodness sake if you or the person next too you is genuinely desperate for a drink and you're capable of then just get up and get one. The ethos this country has towards nursing is not shared by most of the rest of the world. In most other european countries relatives and friends are expected to provide most basic care and nursing staff don't tend to get involved nearly as much.The NHS is one of the most cost-efficient health services in the world. You will NOT be happy if it ends up going private and you learn the true cost of medicine. Believe me. Just research American health economics...

How are people supposed to get visitors to help when they are barely allowed in?

@HarrietteNightingale

How are people supposed to get visitors to help when they are barely allowed in?

Who the hell said get visitors to help?! That's so not the point of visitors, as you say some hospitals still won't allow them in! Plus it's the nurses and care workers job to care for the patients, not the visitors.

@whatdodos

I would ask to speak to the ward manager when you can and explain! If my ward manager/boss found out this was happening hell would break loose. If you guys have really been waiting hours pull the red button behind you, as others have said you will never have seen them move so fast. It's really not okay and on another note I don't know how any nurse can ignore the bells the sound is enough to drive anyone mad after 5 minutes.

It's pretty typical if most hospitals

I had an emergency hospital admission last year (no visitors allowed) and it was very hard to get call bells answered for pain relief. One patient next to me was crying in pain & other patients were trying to alert nursing staff on their behalf. Patients were resorting to asking family members to call the ward to say they needed assistance. I have worked in the NHS & I know what a difficult job it is to be a nurse & how much pressure they are under but wow it’s tough to be a patient. I will add that there was one excellent nurse that I will never forget that attended to all the patients so promptly & with such care that it made me want to cry. She had also lost her husband recently due to Covid. Amazing woman.

Who the hell said get visitors to help?!

The poster immediately before my post that you are referring to.

17 patients to 1 nurse is madness.
We work 1 nurse to 5 patients and struggle .
No wonder people are in pain and bells go unanswered.
We also struggle to take breaks or take time to pee.

@Jannt86

I am truly sorry that people have had such bad experiences and take them on board and the NHS do need to acknowledge these complaints. However this is sadly what we've voted for when we vote for a government that's made quite clear that it doesn't give a s%#t about the NHS and has systematically been selling it off and underfunding it for decades. We as a country chose this so we have to accept the consequence. Yes in an ideal world your nursing staff should have time to meet any need that you have but in reality when faced with someone who needs the toilet (for example) or somebody who might die or might lose their baby which are YOU going to choose first? Also sorry but some of these aggrievances are actually laughable. Complaining that a nurse is waking your child to give them LIFE SAVING medicine which is probably the only reason they've been kept in hospital in the first place?! WTF seriously?! And lots of others are about not being bought drinks etc. Sorry but almost every woman on a labour ward in my experience is mobile and perfectly capable of fetching their own food and drink if needed. In fact it's actually good to move about both when in labour and when recovering from labour/c-section. And people who are visiting elderly relatives are definitely capable of providing basic care for that relative. It isn't perfect but for goodness sake if you or the person next too you is genuinely desperate for a drink and you're capable of then just get up and get one. The ethos this country has towards nursing is not shared by most of the rest of the world. In most other european countries relatives and friends are expected to provide most basic care and nursing staff don't tend to get involved nearly as much.The NHS is one of the most cost-efficient health services in the world. You will NOT be happy if it ends up going private and you learn the true cost of medicine. Believe me. Just research American health economics...

Cost efficient, visitors can do it, underfunded.... Any words about patient care, anything to say about the massive cover ups in the NHS that are costing lives?

Didn't think so.

What’s the answer then. How do we solve the problem of lazy nurses ?
People have clearly had problems with some staff. What’s the solution ?
At my trust we now have 6 months probation for all staff. Training like sage and thyme, conflict resolution.
Save from getting rid of all nurses what’s the answer ?

It's exactly this attitude I was criticising in my pp. Yes technically you're correct and in this country it's expected that nurses will meet your basic needs. However their priority is to preserve life and prevent morbidity. If they can't meet your needs then by all means complain about it. However, if I was visitting someone I cared for then there's absolutely no way I'd just sit there and wait for a buzzer to be answered to get them something they were desperate for if I was capable of doing it, I'd just flaming well do it rather than watch them suffer, same as if I saw a neighbouring patient suffer. It's this exact sense of entitlement which people seem to have these days which stops people actually thinking for themselves and getting themselves. That's my point

Well done for getting a midwife to come and check on one of the other patients.

Screw polite and be assertive in this situation. People's health, babies and maybe even lives are at risk if they don't respond.

What cover-up?? There's constant stories villainising doctors and nurses without any real context. Most doctors and nurses go to work knowing there won't be enough of them to care adequately for their patients, knowing that there's not much they can do about this and knowing that nevertheless if they slip up even a tiny bit or encounter the wrong type of patient they may well end up on the front of the daily fail and their lives as they know it is over. THIS is why they're so defensive and leaving the profession in drones

@Armadeus

What’s the answer then. How do we solve the problem of lazy nurses ? People have clearly had problems with some staff. What’s the solution ? At my trust we now have 6 months probation for all staff. Training like sage and thyme, conflict resolution. Save from getting rid of all nurses what’s the answer ?

A complaints procedure that doesn't put patients on the "fub" list, proper oversight by matrons or similar and pay rises for those that do an exemplary job, part of which should be judged by patient feedback