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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think night staff could be a bit quieter

278 replies

Mammyloveswine · 22/09/2023 00:26

I'm currently in hospital and am really very poorly... not helping is the complete lack of sleep due to how fucking noisy it is on a night!

I get nurses need to take obs etc through the night which is disruptive but omg they come bounding in, loudly asking my date of birth yet again and taking my blood pressure, faffing with thermometers etc!

New patient has just been brought in, the porters banged the bloody doors open, loudly chatting away whilst wheeling the bed in... nurse now in with patient and they are loudly laughing about some joke the patient made about how she got her injury.

5am the other morning the night staff all stood right outside our ward having a full briefing in loud daytime voices.. there's no whispering, no attempt at all to be quiet!!

I had to actually ask the nurse the otter night at 10:30pm if they were going to dim the bright fluorescent lights.. she laughed and said "eeeh I forget it's nighttime!".

This is a semi lighthearted rant because I am knackered and poorly and I have had wonderful care since being in.. but omg please just let me sleep a bit overnight!!

OP posts:
Everyonesliverlovesparvo · 22/09/2023 17:13

Seeing as nurses seem to be the culprit here - screeching, cackling, laughing at people in pain, sneering, generally not giving a fuck, what’s the solution ?

Shadypaws23 · 22/09/2023 17:23

@88milesanhour it was me who was woken at 1am
I came in the morning for an operation. Operated on 10-4pm. Had my tea after, went to bed but couldn't sleep
I was in a side room. A woman came in at 1am and asked what I wanted for lunch the next day with the menu in her hand

CaroleSinger · 22/09/2023 17:27

The worst part when I was in hospital is how the lights never really go off all night. I just could not sleep because it was too light on the ward, not because of noise.

Shadypaws23 · 22/09/2023 17:28

I was wrong, it was quarter to one as I posted it on FB at the time

To think night staff could be a bit quieter
Soubriquet · 22/09/2023 17:35

CaroleSinger · 22/09/2023 17:27

The worst part when I was in hospital is how the lights never really go off all night. I just could not sleep because it was too light on the ward, not because of noise.

That fucked me off so much. They dimmed the lights in the room with emergency lighting still on….but the hall lights were left bright and the curtains would be wide open. I used to have to get up, in pain, draw the curtains and the curtains around my bed to try and block the light

ConnieTucker · 22/09/2023 17:45

Everyonesliverlovesparvo · 22/09/2023 17:13

Seeing as nurses seem to be the culprit here - screeching, cackling, laughing at people in pain, sneering, generally not giving a fuck, what’s the solution ?

Old fashioned matrons running the wards?

Everyonesliverlovesparvo · 22/09/2023 18:22

They already do but I don’t realistically know what they could do to reduce the noice and disturbance beyond what is unavoidable. Most don’t work nights anymore anyway and tbh nursing isn’t like it was 40 years ago when matron sent nurses into the sluice to wash bed pans. Obviously cackling and screeching is absolutely wrong but it’s not something I’ve experienced often and I’ve worked many nights over the years.
Patients are sicker and have more complex needs than ever on general wards.
Back in the 90s there was a white paper about ‘ICU without walls’. Nurses have to care for these patients whilst relatively well, recovering patients could be trying to get to sleep in the next bed. Patients deteriorate at all times. Lights need to be on to see things. There can be much chatting and discussing. Observations need doing at ridiculous times. Someone with a single venflon in has a NEWS done every 4 hours regardless. And if you are sharing a bay with 4 or 8 or 12 other folk, most of whom will be elderly and frail, heavily dependent, possibly confused, it’s incredibly difficult to keep the noise down.

Everyonesliverlovesparvo · 22/09/2023 18:27

@CaroleSinger nurses have to work on the wards whilst you are sleeping (or not). How are we supposed to see things ? Maybe we have to check a surgical wound or a stoma post op, or empty drains, change a patients bed linen if they’ve had an accident….I don’t actually think some posters understand what goes on at night in a hospital.

FabFitFifties · 22/09/2023 18:56

I don't recognise this at all - as a nurse or a patient. Unfortunately, nurses need lights on to see, acute wards are very busy with admissions, transfers between units, and subsequent cleaning, ready for arrivals,theatre trips, trips to xray. People are poorly - they need care at night, if they didn't they would be day cases. Most collapses/cardiac arrests occur at night. Confusion revs up at night, in the elderly. It's not safe for some people to be wheeled to the toilet - they aren't well enough. People can need hourly obs or more. Patients need turning and changing frequently or they develop sores. Monitors amd machines need to bleep to alert staff. Drips need changing - drugs adminstering, the list is endless.Calls need to beade and answered. Maybe I more tolerant as a patient, because I know what's going on.

Shinyandnew1 · 22/09/2023 19:16

Nurses turning lights on didn’t bother me at all. It was the very loud conversations about their personal lives at 4am that I really objected to. That’s something that should be done on a break in a staff room or outside of work, not on a ward full of sleeping patients.

milafawny · 22/09/2023 20:34

Shinyandnew1 · 22/09/2023 19:16

Nurses turning lights on didn’t bother me at all. It was the very loud conversations about their personal lives at 4am that I really objected to. That’s something that should be done on a break in a staff room or outside of work, not on a ward full of sleeping patients.

Chance for that would be nice, on wards only 1 nurse can go on break at a time and in a 12 hour shift we get 1 15 min break and 1 30 min break alone. I agree that the volume of conversations should be addressed, but 12 hours is a long time, we have to talk to colleagues.

I work in A&E where lights pretty much never go off and the noise on nights is the same as day. I imagine wards are similar with pressures on them now. Its rubbish for patients, sleep is so, so important. But we are now unfortunately in a position where a hospital isn't a place for recovery its a place for acute treatments and recovery can only start to once a patient leaves.

Shinyandnew1 · 22/09/2023 20:53

12 hours is a long time, we have to talk to colleagues

But not about your sex life, neighbours and nasty mothers in law. Not loudly at night, when patients can hear you and are trying to sleep.

Redbushteaforme · 22/09/2023 21:03

I was on my knees with lack of sleep when I was in hospital in the UK having DS and in for an extended stay. It was so noisy sleep was impossible- although I was lucky enough to be in a side room, it was opposite the ward kitchen and the night staff loved congregating there for noisy chats.

Contrast this with a stay I had for surgery while living in Switzerland. The hospital was so quiet at night (and, in fact, even during the day) that I felt that I was the only patient. Then the night nurse slipped quietly in to my room in the evening to ask me if I wanted aromatherapy cream rubbed on to my back to help me sleep! (And before anyone asks, our Swiss health insurance policy was fairly basic.)

faban · 22/09/2023 21:13

It's terrible! How they expect people to recover on no sleep is beyond me

ConnieTucker · 23/09/2023 07:35

FabFitFifties · 22/09/2023 18:56

I don't recognise this at all - as a nurse or a patient. Unfortunately, nurses need lights on to see, acute wards are very busy with admissions, transfers between units, and subsequent cleaning, ready for arrivals,theatre trips, trips to xray. People are poorly - they need care at night, if they didn't they would be day cases. Most collapses/cardiac arrests occur at night. Confusion revs up at night, in the elderly. It's not safe for some people to be wheeled to the toilet - they aren't well enough. People can need hourly obs or more. Patients need turning and changing frequently or they develop sores. Monitors amd machines need to bleep to alert staff. Drips need changing - drugs adminstering, the list is endless.Calls need to beade and answered. Maybe I more tolerant as a patient, because I know what's going on.

How can you simultaneously ‘not recognise this at all’ and then go on to describe exactly the issue?

ive stayed on nhs wards multiple times, a week after giving birth, and they are awful and loud places. Ive stated in private hospital, stil in England, and not had the same experience at all.

pilates · 23/09/2023 08:22

Nobody is disputing the noise from emergency care/taking obs, it’s the chit chatting and laughing when patients are trying to sleep which is unreasonable. And no attempt to lower their voice.

Everywednesday · 23/09/2023 09:01

Medstudent12 · 22/09/2023 13:34

I’m a doctor. This is a good reminder for us. I usually only get called to a regular ward at night for an emergency, I always think listening to a cardiac arrest (where the patient almost always dies) behind the next curtain sounds so traumatising. But I do try and be quiet, sometimes people move to AMU (admissions ward) before we’ve done all the “clerking” in A&E (basically assessment by the specialty team) and I always feel so guilty having to wake them up to take a history, examine them etc and inevitably wake up the whole bay.

I tried to get some nurses to keep it down on my most recent set of shifts but I wasn’t listened to.

Thanks for acknowledging the issue. It's good to hear that a medical professional is aware of what's happening and that staff could be more considerate.

JST88 · 23/09/2023 17:22

I completely agree, it’s not the same because only in a night or two but I found the same when I was in having the babies, I did think at the time, how does anyone heel in this environment? Hope you get better soon! Maybe ask if someone could bring you some earplugs and a good eye mask?

lapsedbookworm · 23/09/2023 17:57

I don't think anyone is disputing that medical care needs to happen. I think everyone accepts necessary noise is essential. It's the unnecessary noise that should be kept to a minimum.

A good example would be a long flight, at night the crew do work quietly and are respectful of people's need to sleep.

I ended up seriously ill as a result of several weeks sleep deprivation from staying in hospital with my so (he slept all night but he slept very soundly as a child) I ended up on sleeping tablets and if undoubtedly cost the NHS a fortune.

Everyone knows how vital sleep is. So why is this not treated with more importance in a hospital environment?

I have a condition that means long hospital stays are likely, and in the Facebook group for people with my condition it is the noise at night and consequent lack of sleep that causes them such distress when they are admitted (decent sleep is particularly important for our condition)

lapsedbookworm · 23/09/2023 17:58

pilates · 23/09/2023 08:22

Nobody is disputing the noise from emergency care/taking obs, it’s the chit chatting and laughing when patients are trying to sleep which is unreasonable. And no attempt to lower their voice.

Exactly.

And the bizarreness of not realising that in interrupting sleep they are prolonging recovery times

lapsedbookworm · 23/09/2023 18:00

FabFitFifties · 22/09/2023 18:56

I don't recognise this at all - as a nurse or a patient. Unfortunately, nurses need lights on to see, acute wards are very busy with admissions, transfers between units, and subsequent cleaning, ready for arrivals,theatre trips, trips to xray. People are poorly - they need care at night, if they didn't they would be day cases. Most collapses/cardiac arrests occur at night. Confusion revs up at night, in the elderly. It's not safe for some people to be wheeled to the toilet - they aren't well enough. People can need hourly obs or more. Patients need turning and changing frequently or they develop sores. Monitors amd machines need to bleep to alert staff. Drips need changing - drugs adminstering, the list is endless.Calls need to beade and answered. Maybe I more tolerant as a patient, because I know what's going on.

People aren't stupid. It's not the medical care and ovs thats an issue. It's the unnecessary noise that is aggravating

Shinyandnew1 · 23/09/2023 18:01

A good example would be a long flight, at night the crew do work quietly and are respectful of people's need to sleep.

This, absolutely.

LawfulSearch · 23/09/2023 18:22

I was in hospital for 6 weeks and by the end of it felt worse than when I went in. Earplugs are your friend, I have foam ones.

I feel you pain and hope you are better soon

FUPAgirl · 23/09/2023 18:27

You really cannot compare a flight to a hospital though. Hospitals are busy places, day and night. There are stressful situations going on all around you that you are unaware of. I really don't think anyone can judge nurses if they have never worked a nightshift on a ward. Someone mentioned a staff room - ha! The ward I worked on was so short staffed every shift that we had to take our 'break' at the nurses station.

working nights is awful, you don't sleep before your first shift obviously as you have just had a nights sleep, so you end up up for 24 hours at least straight before you can get into bed. So believe me, we understand tiredness. You do have to chat to keep yourself going.

As for their response to your request for a face mask and ear plugs, no the NHS do not provide these. Have you had no visitors who can bring you things in? If not, is there anyone you can ask to pop in? The nurse should have responded with more compassion though, you are obviously beside yourself with exhaustion. Laughing at you is disgusting behaviour.

Whilst I agree that lack of sleep is absolutely horrendous (its why I moved away from hospital based work), and staff absolutely should be considerate of the patients, there are unfortunately many essential tasks that need to be done, such as obs. You can of course decline these, but I would be wary of that given you feel that have missed how unwell you are.

Have you tried asking for a side room? It seems only fair they consider it for you given the situation. I would recommend looking for feedback forms so you can leave feedback regarding the situation.

I agree the hospital environment in no way aids recovery. In my place the crap food is another huge issue!

Shinyandnew1 · 23/09/2023 18:30

You do have to chat to keep yourself going.

Perhaps some basic training on volume control for these ‘chats’ would be useful then.