Why don't nhs night staff want you to sleep?

[ICaughtTonsillitisFromAFriendsKid]

Sleep is a great healer.
So why is everything done to keep ward patients awake all night? (Well it feels that way)

In the day the wonderful staff are very kind, but overnight, why no whispering, at all? Not even stage whispering? I've just staggered out of bed trying not to rip out my cathetera and canula to pull the bible sheet curtain round a bit, but everyone else is left with curtains pushed back to the walls.

Everyone is so kind and happy to help, I don't even want to say anything, but I'm just exhausted, as are all of these very poorly ladies.

It seems the doctors are not too bad at whispering, I must concede.

Because they are selfish and thoughtless.

Face it, whispering is a waste of time when they're wheeling clanky beds in and out of the ward and just when that palaver is over, they come along to check your oxygen levels and blood pressure!

Sorry you’re not getting much sleep OP :(

Could you ask someone to bring you an eye mask & some earplugs tomorrow to help you get off? Being kept awake is miserable, especially when you’re ill.

I feel your pain I was with dd for 4 weeks on childrens ward and between medical staff and new arrivals yelling and putting tv on in the middle of the night we didn’t get much sleep….

You can get REALLY good earplugs from the chemist - bit like a ball of wax that you mould into your ear. Worth a try? I used to live next to a major road in London - only thing that kept me sane...

Have you had a baby by any chance OP?

I’ve been overnight in hospital a number of times and the only time where they’d tramp about, talk loudly and make no effort to keep it down was the postnatal ward. It really pissed me off because you have babies waking up every 2 minutes. I do think there’s a link between that kind of disrespect that the enormous gap in women’s healthcare.

Can you ask for a zopiclone? They worked wonders for me when I was in.

I’ve got so much respect for people who work in the nhs. However I do find it surprising that sleep isn’t prioritised a lot more.

It's a conspiracy

Keep you tired, makes you compliant.

I joke (kind of)

My worst overnight hospital experience was when I was put on a ward with loads of people who had machines to help keep them alive. I was in for a post op infection so didn't need a machine but no beds on the more appropriate ward for me.

It got so bad I fantasized about turning all the plugs off. Constant beeping all fucking night

It's hopeless trying to sleep in hospital- you have my utmost sympathy! The day shift will come clanking in at 6am as well and wake you up if you have managed to doze off.

It is as loud as the postnatal ward but that's not why I'm here tonight. Yes tramping about and talking loudly. Last night a wonderful woman did something like a dream feed for my obs, so she did blood pressure without shaking me awake and shouting TONSILS! TONSILS WAKE UP!
It was great, but she is gone.

Alarm is ringing now. If you're having a hear attack, you've had your chips, friend.

Mercury, unless that's a personal admission, doubtful.

What is this magic?

Because if you die overnight because you've not been checked on, since you're unwell enough to be ina hospital and not a bed at home, it reflects rather badly on the staff that failed to round on you to ensure you weren't getting worse......

*heart attack. Typing on my back.

I recently had to stay in hospital quite a while, I struggle with insomnia in normal life and any sort of noise stops me sleeping. what saved me in hospital was a really good earplug in the side I was laying on and then in ear headphones in the other ear playing brown noise off the BBC sounds app. It drowned out everything.

I remember thinking the same. It was the least rested I’ve ever been. I had a hypertensive crisis post partum and was told to rest whilst being woken up constantly. It was the most stressful time of my life and begged to be discharged early.

Yeah it's not a hotel 🙄 you don't get the pleasure of a do not disturb sign .. however you do seem to have a bed on a ward so for that be thankful

I was in hospital for 2 weeks post my births. I was exhausted anyway having just had emergency sections and babies in NICU. But the lack of sleep, the noise and the heat just crippling. You can’t get well in hosptial.

But my point is they can check a bit more quietly. The doctors do.

Doris! Doris! Are you getting some sleep?
No, dear, too noisy
Yes, it is isn't it!

I think that’s uncalled for to be honest @knickersniff
when you’re not feeling well and can’t rest it feels like torture

I've never found it too bad. The last time I was in overnight the doctor woke me at 2 in the morning to tell me the results of my tests.
Nothing life threatening and I was so tired I didn't take much of it in and the day doctor had to go through it again anyway. Apart from that though never had too much of a problem

Must be horrible though being sick /in pain, away from home and unable to sleep. Hope you're able to get some sleep soon.

My hospital stays were psych ones. You get a torch in your face every hour or so... and someone asking if you are awake (duh) and then would you like a cup of tea.

Its exhausting! When I had my daughter years ago a lady had her baby and dad sister nanny and grandad (both sets) and goodness knows who else refused to leave the ward at three am they stood by the bed and argued they needed to be there claiming they needed to be there to translate for her they wanted to meet the baby a nurse came down with sleep doesn't need an interpreter leave and come back later cue louder protests she offered to call security to remove them

My bed was opposite a large metal cabinet which contained a large amount of bedding. It was visited many times during the night by the loudest trolley in the universe, which I nicknamed Rolling Thunder, that was pushed around by the World Record Holder for Door Slamming and Loud Banter.

This was in the Acute Stroke Unit…🤷🏻‍♀️

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet your post literally made my stomach flip with anxiety, recalling the nightmare I experienced after giving birth. Almost 18 months later and whilst nobody would know… I’m still not over it at all. We’re trying again soon and (if we’re lucky enough to have a second) I’m genuinely scared about the post labour ward. I’m not even slightly nervous about getting the baby out in comparison to the hell on earth that is a postnatal ward. I want to vomit just thinking about it.

OP, I hear you. Like others have suggested, get some decent earplugs. I hope you have a smooth and speedy recovery.

Whilst recovering from a craniotomy on a neurosurgery ward at Christmas time, I will never forget the Salvation Army brass band that came round and played amazing grace REALLY LOUD. I still laugh thinking about it. Nobody could do anything about it, we could barely move. My head was pounding. And there was a brass flipping band three inches from my bed. It was utterly ridiculous but incredibly moving, all at the same time.