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.

This is an incentive to stay as healthy as I possibly can! I sleep incredibly badly and always have. It has been suggested that a possible reason for sleeping poorly is due to spending the first 6 weeks of my life in hospital with lights/noise/observation etc. Obviously I don't remember that and all of it was essential to keeping me alive.

The only overnight hospital stays I've had since then are 1 night after having DD, and the patients were far more noisy and inconsiderate than any medical staff, and a night when DS was a baby and unwell. He had to be monitored every 2 hours and he had a clip on his foot but because he was so tiny it kept coming off which triggered some sort of alarm. So none of that could be avoided.

I'm a little bit tired of the notion that NHS staff are angels. You find all sorts within it. Some kind, some cruel, some in-between, some barely there, some dismissive, some incredibly intuitive, some caring, some outright judgmental.

Nurses are relatively well-paid when you think about it.
I get the notion that they think they are demi-gods and the downtrodden in society when the reality is that they receive sizeable pensions, decent remuneration and they chose the profession.
I have a friend who works nights (12 hour shifts) at Amazon. The pay, including the premium for night-shifts is something ridiculous like 11.75 an hour, though he gets another slight little raise for length of service.
His take home pay is 400 odd a week for 40 hours, but he has to work an extra 10 hours overtime just to live I guess.
Now, while he doesn't have someone's life depending on what he packages, he's on his feet 12 hours every night.

If you're not capable of a modicum of kindness, please do not go into nursing. For the sake of everyone!

To read some of the posts, you'd be forgiven for thinking that they work for free!

I personally think that clapping for them, was the worst of Boris' bright ideas! 😂

OP, my heart goes out to you as the exhaustion goes against all good practice. Everyone suggests asking for a sleeping tablet. You might just as well ask for heroin!

Private insurance don't generally have access to private ITU or critical care in the UK , they lack the equipment and expertise. Private care is good for things like elective surgeries and diagnostics..

Agreed!

The staff in the NHS that I find amazing are paramedics. They deal with life and death. They do not know what they are walking into on any call.

Nobody ever mentions them. They're also not allowed to strike.
Unfortunately, due to illness, I'm familiar with some of them. I live in London and they're divided up into different areas. Throughout Covid, the crew I know the most (they're like a comedy duo), told me that they lost 24 members of crew. 24 paramedics just from their group, died.

@helenaaise I do shifts everywhere and sometimes private hospitals. The reason that private care is entirely different is due to the nature of the patients. The majority are well and prior to their operation have very little past medical history. They have a planned (usually very simple, routine) op that gets them back to ward on day time and get settled for bed then have very normal observations so only need checked 4 hourly overnight. There are very very rarely confused patients. Most patients are independently mobile. There are no ambulances or helicopters. Out of 28 beds on the last private hospital I was in there were only 6 patients over night (all very stable and well) and 2 nurses.

The NHS is emergency care, people come in very unwell and need much closer observation and much more intervention. They come in all day and night. People who return from theatre have often had very complex cancer operations and pain needs to be managed much differently to the simple oral analgesia offered post op at a private hospital. They often have multiple drains and are at much higher risk so need much more closely monitored. In medicine the majority of patients are elderly with multiple complex needs and often dementia or delirium who often become distressed away from their usual setting. The majority of patients will have mobility problems so need 2 nurses to get to the commode (which in itself is noisy) overnight. People don't often bring hearing aids into hospital so we have to speak loud to get them to mobilise safety. People often have skin which has broken down completely so we need to be changing position 2 hourly day and night.

I completely agree that people need to be thoughtful when speaking to colleagues and cluster care where possible. Promoting sleep is an important part of getting someone better. But the services provided by private hospitals and NHS is entirely different and private hospitals will always be much quieter at night.

I completely agree that people need to be thoughtful when speaking to colleagues and cluster care where possible. Promoting sleep is an important part of getting someone better. But the services provided by private hospitals and NHS is entirely different and private hospitals will always be much quieter at night.

Lol, a better class of patient? Don't make me laugh.

True. Plus, if there are complications while you are in private care you will be transferred back to the NHS.

The three nights in hospital after dd1 was born by section were some of the most unpleasant and stressful ever. I remember sobbing with exhaustion on the phone to my husband the first morning. The noise (nurses talking and laughing loudly all night at the nurses station) and the intolerable heat made sleep impossible topped off by rude, aggressive nurses handling me so roughly and refusing to wash me for nearly 36 hours after the birth so I was lying in my own blood and god knows what else all night made it a horrible experience. If my mom hadn’t arrived and advocated for me I couldn’t have coped.

i really do appreciate the nhs but the narrative that all nurses are angels just isn’t true sadly.

op I hope you got done rest overnight

@Fifife I realise that, it's not a serious conversation more an expression of our exasperation hoping for an alternative if it continues.

I wish nurses would strike if they want more pay - better hours - more staff - instead, unfortunately, they 'struggle' on - upshot is a martyrdom attitude that means they can behave how they want with no recourse.
I've come across some horrors.

@helenaaise I do shifts everywhere and sometimes private hospitals. The reason that private care is entirely different is due to the nature of the patients. The majority are well and prior to their operation have very little past medical history. They have a planned (usually very simple, routine) op that gets them back to ward on day time and get settled for bed then have very normal observations so only need checked 4 hourly overnight. There are very very rarely confused patients. Most patients are independently mobile. There are no ambulances or helicopters. Out of 28 beds on the last private hospital I was in there were only 6 patients over night (all very stable and well) and 2 nurses.

I agree with you. I was in for a planned, non life threatening op. That's why I didn't even bother to compare much beyond mentioning the sleep because it simply couldn't be emulated. Different experience entirely with private carpeted rooms with en suite facilities and menus brought to your room, then afterwards the food. It was eerily quiet to be honest!

The Unions are balloting us about strike action very soon. Watch this space…

They 'struggle on' while being utterly cruel to vulnerable patients at times.
DO NOT GO INTO NURSING IF YOU'RE NOT A KIND PERSON. Please. I beg you.

A newly qualified nurse gets about 25k and they are responsible for life and death. It's very poorly paid compared to other countries such as Australia and USA. I don't agree with wards being noisy but some of the complaints are ridiculous. Very sick people require close monitoring and interventions imagine the outcry if staff let people sleep then they died ? They would be accused of neglect.
I have been a patient and exhausted but I recognise it's not for for convalescence the staff have a duty to check I'm alive and well.

When I was acutely unwell I slept through the checks . It was a sign I was becoming more well when I was becoming irritated by it. I asked the doctors was it ok to be discharged and they agreed so I checked into a hotel for a full day of rest.

Nurses pay is not that low!
Jeez

I'm due to have a Hysterectomy soon (open surgery not keyhole so will definitely be in at least a couple of nights I assume) and this thread has really worried me. I have a serious Mental Health condition and while I'm fine currently I know from experience that lack of sleep is my biggest trigger for relapse.

The only time I've been in hospital previously was to have my babies, the first time I was alone in a side room as I was very unwell. The second time I was on the main postnatal ward but the night staff were as quiet and considerate as possible. The lights were turned down as low as possible, given that they still have to be able to see to complete paperwork and other tasks. They spoke to each other and the patients in whispers. A new lady came in during the night, she did not have a baby with her and was clearly distressed, even the staff comforting her did so in whispers. It was still difficult to sleep due to staff checking obs, machines beeping, people coming in and out etc but those things can't be helped.

I'm pretty sure the doctors are responsible for life and death.
Nurses should 'nurse'.

Good for you that you could check into a hotel to convalesce on a poor little nurse salary. 🙄

Do you know how much a doctor's starting salary is?

A band 5 nurse (or paramedic) gets paid £13.39 per hour for the first 2 years. Both degree qualified yet only £1.64 more than your friend at amazon that you feel so sorry for. An auxiliary nurse or domestic gets £10.06.

Please don't panic. Prepare yourself for disturbed sleep. Try and sleep during the day. It won't be that long. You can have visitors now, once they book the appointment (so that you don't have 10 visitors at once).
You'll be ok. Bring your prescriptions with you and ensure that they're written up for your night meds or any other really important meds, asap.