Disgusting hospital

[Furyfurious]

I was discharged from hospital this week following surgery and a 5 night stay at an NHS hospital. I am absolutely traumatised. What I have seen and been exposed to was totally shocking. I will definitely be looking for a Private health care policy. The Nurses attitudes, patients attitudes poor (not all ) but a shambles. The smell of the ward, the food etc sorry but there needs to be resolution

I don't think it's all about funding. I've seen the NHS under various governments, and it's been going downhill for years.

If my DH can get appalling treatment on one ward, and then excellent care on the next, in the same hospital, this obviously isn't a funding problem.

Which is why I've put in an official complaint about the first ward, but been very clear in my praise for the second ward.

They have launched an enquiry, so I'll have to wait and see. But, if they try to fob me off with nonsense, then I'll do it via a solicitor. It don't help DH now, as he died, and it won't help me - but it might help those following.

sniff Eww, what's that smell?

Someone's let the Tory shill out again.

@Zebedee55 sorry about your DH

Since you know nothing about my ward and my management of it I am not sure why you are aiming to be so insulting. You have picked one element of what I posted and twisted it. I obviously would not tolerate staff being demeaning to patients. However, staff having a 5 minute downtime in a 13 hour shift when they often go without breaks is not an issue in my books. As long as call Bella are answered timely and all jobs are done- then yes, I am happy for them to have a catch up.
I have an amazing team, and we get plaudits every day. Check your attitude because all you are doing is coming across as rude and ignorant.

My visits to amazing hospitals like GOSH or the Royal Marsden were where I encoutered excellent professional standards - so why can't all hospitals be like this?
both of these Trusts are financially buoyant from large private care incomes and lucrative charities. Anyone who thinks it’s not about money hasn’t a a scooby soo.

So sorry for your loss. That is unbelievably cruel and there is absolutely no excuse.

@Littlemousesing I'm really stunned that you've worked in multiple hospitals that have such high cleanliness standards...I haven't seen that in any of the hospitals I've been unfortunate enough to have been exposed to. Some other poor child's bloody gown left in the room that had allegedly "just been cleaned" for my severely immunocompromised sick child; floors so filthy your feet practically stick to them when walking; no running water in the bathrooms; filthy toilets...I could go on.

@doveanddrive as a midwife I am so so sorry to read that awful event. I hope you made a formal complaint, I would hope never to hear one of my colleagues speak like that, ever. I’m sorry for your loss

I'm so sorry, @doveanddrive. That is so appalling that it is beyond comprehension. I have no words.

There are plenty of models of healthcare that actually work, in numerous other European countries plus Australia etc. Models which cost a very similar amount to ours but result in decent, competent care in clean hospitals with patients seen in a timely fashion and treated in dignity and staying in private rooms with edible food and have far, far superior health outcomes to the NHS.

It's worth reading the whole series of Nigel Edwards' Mythbusting series about funding, insurance, and other models of healthcare.

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/comment-series/through-the-looking-glass-myths-and-magical-thinking-about-the-nhs

I just wouldn't work in a hospital like that I'm afraid.
Ours is spotless as they all should be.

Without a doubt, the NHS needs root and branch reform - to just keep throwing money at it is pointless.

Not sure if any party will take on this "sacred cow" that the NHS is, though.

Yes i agree it's not unique to the NHS, healthcare and medical staff are human afterall. There are however several factors currently affecting staffing and patient care in the NHS that if the government cared about they'd address; and no it's not all about money. It is quite worrying that there are shortages of qualified HCPs globally though, even in countries where pay and conditions are miles better- going to be an interesting few decades globally to be honest, but nationally it needs someone with the will to address the problems and invest in sorting them to make any change really.

No, no, no it doesn't 'root and branch reform' is the very last think it needs. Likewise education. The constant reorganisation of public services is part of the problem and eats money. I wish politicians would just leave well alone, fund services properly and let the professionals running the services get on with their jobs.

Sadly can well believe this is the case some hospitals, thankfully I've never worked in one. As I said in an earlier post the culture and management of the hospital overall affects everything, including being able to attract sufficient numbers of support staff to keep wards clean. It's not acceptable that any setting falls beneath not just safe standards but general cleanliness standards, but there's no will to address the fundamental underlying issues so sadly things won't change. If nurses and HCAs weren't so stretched they'd have time to chip in, but some of the ratios are well below what's safe to deliver a min level of care let alone to be cleaning.

If anyone wants to know I will happily name and shame the QEQM hospital in Margate & their ED. Avoid unless you’re actively dying. Even then I’d rather die.

The best hospital care I've ever received was in Addenbrooke's. Absolutely amazing

Other hospitals really need to take a leaf out of their book!

Hugs to you My father was also an alcoholic, and I was reduced to tears more than once when accompanying him to hospital by the cruel and callous way both he and I were treated.

Had an awful time at Pinderfields in wakefield. Great stay at Dewsbury, LGI, st James in Leeds
It's hit and miss.

Many, many years ago, ( early 2000's ) with great fanfare and lots of 'ooh look at us being all forward thinking' those who got to make the big decisions, decided to hire a Professor in time management skills to come and look at ways that staff could up their game. The report concluded that we needed more staff and that the current staffing ratios were unsafe. Nothing happened, nada, zilch !
One of his team did catch me with a mop in one hand and pulling a lady behind me on a commode with the other, trying to clear up the liquid faeces, that some poor unfortunate women had expelled on her way to the toilet, before someone slipped in them ! Commode lady refused to use the commode in the bay with the other ladies, totally understandable, but the toilet was past the liquid faeces and would have meant wheeling her through it, if not cleaned up, plus she was a little confused and a fall's risk, so safer being wheeled on a commode than left to get up and then fall in someone elses poo.
That one event was absolutely the norm on the ward I worked on at that time, it was commonplace for a nurse to take someone to the toilet, discover it was dirty and clean it before letting the patient in. We all did everything, personal care, make beds, clean bed areas between patients, hand out meals and drinks, feed people who needed help, drugs rounds, obs, lots of IV's, dealt with agressive detoxing patients and those with delirium and dementia, looked after people who were dying, took time to talk to relatives who wanted an update.
The ward manager would put an apron on in the morning and help out, before the Doctors arrived for ward rounds, once they had left she would help out again. She knew when it was bad and was excellent at keeping morale up, she didn't pretend things were rosy when they weren't, always thanked everyone for their hard work when things were tough, and as a result, we all went the extra mile.
That ward was a baptism of fire as a newly qualified nurse, but it made me realise that those people in your care are the most important thing, if they are looked after well, then you are winning at nursing.

I can't comment on wards as I've only been an outpatient but I've chosen to transfer the care for my broken foot back to the NHS from private. After struggling to get answers from the virtual fracture clinic I used my private healthcare but the doctor I saw wouldn't listen to me when I said I was in more pain than I had been before. I contacted the fracture clinic again who gave me a face to face appointment and both the doctor and consultant actually listened to me.

The private doctor only works in private medicine and if I'd followed his treatment I would have needed a lot of Physiotherapy - provided by the same clinic of course.

Of course it isn't. I didn't see any mention of evil nurses in ops posts. And fortunately I don't have any personal experience of any nurses I would consider evil. Any that I did have concerns about I would report to the ward managers, PALS and the NMC.

There are international statistically valid demonstrating the points I made, produced by reputable international research and data institutions. Aside from many people's diabolical personal experiences of the NHS. They nearly killed me daughter, and almost did the same to me on another occasion. And both of my parents would be dead by now if they didn't have private healthcare. The vast majority of friends I have who are citizens of other countries but live in the UK return to those countries whenever they need healthcare or dentistry even though many of those countries are much poorer than this one and their health services receive less funding per capita in many cases. The international data on health outcomes in the UK compared to comparator countries - not just now but over decades - is all anybody needs to read to understand how poor it is, even if they are lucky enough that they haven't been subjected to the worst of it personally (yet).

Excuse typos but hope you can still tell what I meant!!

@Nepmarthiturn
please link to source studies and cite those countries where health outcomes are better than the uk but spend on healthcare per capita is less.