Why are some NHS staff unkept looking?

[BoozySuzie]

I don't visit hospitals often thank goodness but I can't help but notice a lot of staff in hospitals are quite scruffy. Surely working in a hospital environment it is imperitive to be spotlessly clean and well groomed?? The Philipino nurses always look clean and tidy it's just our staff.

i have never seen a dirty looking member of staff at hospital .and i spend a lot of time in them.

i worked in hospital when i went in looked good after few hours hard work your cheap uncomfortable uniform starts to crease where it gets pulled about by patients

i think providing we do our jobs well the more scruffy you look the harder you have worked its not easy working long shifts short staffed trying to maintain descent level of care as well as making sure our appearance is immaculate

its harder work than it seems to those on the outside you dont get 5 mins to make sure your still looking good

Should read filthy-looking, sorry

The fact that hair doesn't have to be scraped back and covered with a starched hat, conbined with the more casual uniforms, means that nurses certainly look less neat than they did in the 1950s, but dirty? Not in my (unfortunately vast) experience.

However, some of my DD's doctors have on occasion looked a bit mucky

alot are very overweight too. No offence i am not kate moss but a high % of nurses are overweight, hardly good advertising is it?

what a weird and pointless thread. Some people in the NHS may or may not look a bit scruffy. Well bugger me.

And what is meant by 'our staff' after the Philipino (sic) comment?

Because physical labour makes you look scruffy and nurses do not have time to file their nails and re-straighten their hair - they are too busy using their breaks to shove some canteen slops in and go to the toilet. When they get their breaks.

I'd missed the 'our staff' on first reading!
I was so annoyed by the original point (and the poor spelling).

suzie, stop boozin

i'm not boozing tonight pointy .

How sad is Unfit trying to find spelling mistakes in peoples' posts? She made one herself but I didn't say anything. SAD.

so, boozy, you've had some reasons why NHS staff might look unkempt.. how do you feel about it now?
FWIW, i am in hospital regularly, never seen anyone who actually looked dirty

looked like they'd done a days work , yes, but not dirty

marti, that's partly because many nurses don't get the chance to eat all day - certainly not a proper meal break. So they grab anything they can eat in passing. And are starving by the time they get home, without the energy to cook.

Message withdrawn

Lol at this thread, I'm a nurse and I' finding this thread very amusing

I used to work with doctors who had to do a night on-call (with a full day before and a full day after) and the only place they had to snooze was a sofabed in what doubled as their office and kitchen.

The managers provided them with a shower which was in a different building, and to get to it they had to cross the road and walk through that hospital. Their alternative was using the sink in my office.

They regularly used to stumble into my office, hair a mess and clothes looking like they'd been slept in because ..... well, they'd been slept in.

Isn't the care that they provide more important than how they look?

Boozysuzie, do have any thoughts as to why hospital staff may be quite scruffy and/or unkempt looking?

When I worked 12-14 hours straight on a male adolescent secure unit i wore jeans, trainers and a long sleaved t-shirt with hair in a pony tail, rizzy and unstraightened.

I'd have loves to have worn sleek clothes and had tubling glssoy hair and pretty jewellry but I didn't think they'd withstand the bedroom cleaning, medication dispensing, vomit wiping, badminton playing, occassional grappling around on the floor restraining, and having food thrown at you activities that often went on there!

Also please try being groomed when you're stumbling around at 5.45am getting ready for a 6.45am start!!

in your opinion that is.

Mercy - yes my thoughts are they can't be arsed to make an effort.

No, perhaps they're more bothered about doing their job well

I'd like to see how groomed you'd look after a 12-hour shift and no break.

BoozySusie, are you real or are you a 40s Daily Mail reading male having a laugh?

I think BoozySuzie is a jouralist.

I'll give her a quote or two. Might not be printable, though.

As I have already explained, I don't expect nurses to look like dolly birds after doing a 12 hours shift, but some look scruffy before the shift has even began .