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.

Lulu yes a few posters said the reason nurses are overweight is because they don't have time to eat properly, so they grab a pasty or pie - I don't buy that excuse sorry. Surely they sell healthy food in hospitals?

Yes Kitty but surely you can find time to touch up your make up and blow dry your hair?

and the amount of hours they work without a break .. surely if they have 5 minutes, they are going to have a wee and a drink not pres their uniform..

c'mon, you must know how understaffed and overstretched the NHS is

Now I know this is a wind-up. Have you seen hospital food lately?

have you seen a hospital canteen lately???

x post snaf !

They are overweight for the same reasons other people are. They can still be kind caring and professional, isn't that the most imp thing?

The paramedic that came out to me on Sunday night was very overweight but honestly she was swift, compassionate and reassuring, and I thought she was great!

oooh , are you ok mrsrufallo?

From an infection control point of view it is theorectically safer for all staff working in clincal areas to wear frequently washed washable clothes,(not as smart as dryclean suits), short sleeves and no dangly bits! Even watches are banned. White coats went a while back!

When I worked nights we had no canteen facility at all. We had vending machines which allowed us to eat horrid processed gunk.

Please booziesuzie, what do you work at, I really want to know. I know, you are really Trinny or Suzanne arn't you.

You think health professionals would make more of an effort to eat healthily, and maintain a healthy body weight wouldn't you? I mean they are working with ill peole and should set some kind of example.

lulu- a silly accident am ended up with 11 stitches after standing on a glass topped coffee table. I kind of ..forgot it was glass

HAVE YOU READ THE POSTS ?? about why eating healthily might not be possible

i have been in the hospital at night, and there is nowhere to get anything other than a chocolate bar and a sugary drink

oh no ! you poor thing , hope it is healed very soon

Boozy - my consultant obs smokes like a chimney and is ver' partial to whisky (NOT at work, obviously). He is a bloody marvellous doctor and oddly enough I don't think the fact that he smokes makes one bit of difference. You really are being extraordinarily judgemental - have you really no flaws?

It's SO dull when trolls don't bother to expand on their 'arguments' or answer posts, but instead just keep repeating the same old stuff over and over again. Don't you find?

oh god - I used to work a 9 1/4hr shift - not for the NHS - but in a care job, at night. Not only were the uniforms a complete fcker to iron, they creased really easily - and by the end of a long shift (especially if I'd been up since 8am the previous morning) I frequently looked a right bl*dy mess.

I had weight problems when working nights, not putting it on, but losing it VERY fast. I was eating/sleeping at odd hours and my body coped my shedding weight - I went from a size 14/16 down to a (slim) 8 in the space of 1yr. I could easily see how for many weight would pile on.

I'm off to watch Masterchef. And then I'm going to bed because I'm up at 5am tomorrow for a 12-hour shift.

I may not bother washing my hair at that hour, but don't tell suzie...

[hmm to this thread. Having worked in the NHS and now private sector, I really don't see why you should comment on how the staff look, it is the quality of care your recieve that matters.

Thanks Lulu
You have to smoke and drink like a trooper to work for the NHS

Boozy, chips and stodge are the only thing my hospital canteen knows how to cook. Would love to eat healthily whilst at work but when you have only 10mins to eat, sitting down to a nutritious meal just isn't an option.
I take it from your refusal to say what you do for a living that you are not in the same position, if in fact you do actually work.

lol snaf - the trust i work for have only recently issued scrubs for midwives, it used to be navy trousers and a polo shirt but hard to keep clean and look smart.
the scrubs actually look smart, until they get covered in the messes that occur during childbirth, even with a plastic apron over the top.
i start my shift looking reasonably samrt and groomed, but give me a couple of hours into my shift and my make up has slid off and my hair will be escaping its clip, but my hands will be scrupulously (??? at spelling) clean.
perhaps if we went back to the 70's and strapped all the women to the bed with epidurals and continous monitoring i wouldn;t be such a mess form following women around the room who are hopping and jumping and determined to give brith squatting never mind my back or the state of my uniform

I have just done two thirteen hour shifts in a row on a busy admissions ward. I would be a miracle worker if I didn't look scruffy!

We have to wear our hair off our collars so all i can do with my long hair is stick it in a bun, and my v,sensible shoes are deeply unfashionable.

And I am fat.

Hah.

It's up to the staff to complain about poor services, i.e. crap food served in staff canteen. And why can't you take your own healthy food to work? Are there no fridges available anywhere?? My SIL works shifts at our local hospital and takes her own food in, salads and fruit.

I can't tell you what I do for a living but I DO work shifts and weekends and manage to eat healthily.