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

Forever indebted to Ipswich Hospital for getting my hands back after spinal surgery. 27th January 2023 🙏 thank you again.

Their sister Colchester hospital had no clue.

Goodness gracious why would I put something that wasn't true. This has all happened. I feel for them all with their workload but that's what happened. They also lost his ph study and he's having it done again, blood sugars down at 2.9 and doctor went home and left him.
Yes realistically we know what should have happened but it didn't.

I have no doubt that your daughter had a fit on the ward and help was given to her and in the foray of looking after your daughter, putting a call out etc your grandson was terrified, on a ward with limited staffing what would you suggest they do?
Also the Dr went home, heaven forbid a Dr went home at the end of a 12 hr shift to their own family/friends, you do realise there are limits on how many hours staff work for a reason???? Do you really expect them to stay on indefinitely???? There is a clinical handover and someone else would have taken over!

I could reply to this and I understand your defensiveness . I could tell you what really happened when the doctor left without saying but you're not believing me. I'm glad the sister dealt with it.
The NHS needs help, needs money , and needs more staff.
It's scary

What an extraordinarily ignorant & stupid post.

I'm spent two years being treated & cared for by breast care nurses who administer chemo, monitor treatments, support me and provide endless advice, patience & cheer as well as inserting canulas without causing pain..

I've met my fabulous surgeon three times, seen an oncologist three times and a radiologist once.

But the nurses provide treatment and care. They deserve a great deal more respect and recognition for their skills and training.

The Dr doesn't have to tell you he's leaving

Why would someone work harder for a business? I have worked in public service jobs where I have done far more than my role. If it was a money making business there is no way I would do that.

Can I ask those who've said they experienced trauma from hospital stays, do you mean in the clinical sense? From some descriptions it sounds like it's definitely clinical.

You mean ‘clinical’ as in formally diagnosed? Yes, in my case. I saw a hospital counsellor. And it does sound like that in many stories PP have told on here too but I couldn’t speak on their behalf.

it’s actually massively shocking and dangerous if you think about it. I’m terrified of my local ED now & have refused to go twice when I was told I should go.

I do also think that many medics (GPs; hospice staff; 111 staff; the nurses who answer the chemo hotlines etc) are at the mercy of computer systems that throw up red flags at certain answers to questions that lead to “A&E” as the only answer & as an arse-covering exercise. The system just hasn’t caught up with how overstretched and crowded and awful some hospitals are & there’s a clear element of a lack
of human common sense.

That being said, if it is an accident or an emergency (potential sepsis for example) then sadly off to hospital you must go, as what choice is there then.

That's appalling mowly - that people's experiences are bad enough to meet the threshold for actual diagnosis is all the more shocking given most are only in for a relatively short time.

I agree. A relative has recently spent 3 months in hospital and the so called 'care' was so awful I don't even have the words. I've complained but they haven't even bothered acknowledging (with the exception of PALS who agree it is a serious situation) and I'm going to speak with a solicitor.

People do not realise how bad it is. I spent 5 days with my Dad, going through A&E (72 hours) and 2 days on a ward. It was the most horrific experience and I have been diagnosed with PTSD because of the things I saw and experienced during that time. There was a queue of about 100 people outside A&E, and an 11 hour wait to see a doctor. People crying and begging for help. His meds were recorded wrong and we had to tell them every single time (they never amended the record), things they agreed to do were not done including ordering tests etc, there wasn't enough space anywhere, food and empty plates all over the place, people on trolleys having to be moved so staff could get to equipment cupboards, old people crying out for help and in pain, people desperate for help to get to the toilet, people wetting or soiling themselves due to this and the staff then being really angry, hoking old people onto beds with very little care (and indeed a lot of violence). One lady did have help to the toilet and when she came back her bed had been taken away for use elsewhere (she had to sit in a wheelchair all night).

I honestly could not believe what a complete and utter catastrophe the whole thing was from start to finish. So many mistakes which really didn't need to happen. And people are mostly unaware of this. I see people on this forum telling others to go to A&E - honestly you could not get me back in there unless I was dying.

Could you drive to a different hospital. Is there another one in driving distance @Northernlass99

why are people kept in hospitals for days awaiting scans which if they were done sooner the patient cld go home. it wld be cheaper to employ more staff to do this instead of just on a tuesday or fridays and if you miss the day they keep you in until the next week. waste of money

pals are useless they just placate and are paid for by thje nhs and are not independent. the usual lessons will be learnt

PALS are yet another layer of the NHS's "Fob off" mentality. You're told to complain to PALS so that you don't "waste" the time of the ward/consultant in dealing with complaints etc - basically fobbing you off to a different department.

Over the past 30 or so years, I've made several complaints to PALS for my father in law, mother in law, mother and now DH, and none have led to any resolutions nor improvements. Yes, they sound sympathetic on the phone, but never ring you back, and there's never any sign of improvement.

My DH has cancer and we've found it far more effective just badgering the consultant, the "specialist" nurses, the admin/managers etc, to get things done properly - i.e. he makes a nuisance of himself until they do what they should be doing. That's after a year or so of going through PALS where no improvements at all happened. Now he has his own "little black book" of names and direct phone numbers of the oncology dept, radiography dept, day treatment unit, etc., and is not afraid to knock heads together to get them liaising properly to do the appointments, treatments etc required. He'd be dead if he'd left it to them as they can't organise a piss up in a brewery. That's for cancer - heaven knows how bad they are for dealing with non life threatening things.

I feel like the OP is being slightly unfair here. Being upset at other patients attitudes for example, you cant choose who the other patients will be. Sometimes it might be a verbally abusive person or somebody with dementia who calls out all night. The staff cant do anything about that and it isnt feasible for everybody to have their own rooms (they will be saved for infective patients or maybe those at the end of their life).
Also saying another patient smells of faeces? Sometimes people come in with severe gastroenterolgy problems, have leaking stomas, etc...it cant be helped that wards do smell of bodily fluids or sickness sometimes, its not like air fresheners can be used (affects breathing).
Also food is very basic I agree but staff will usually happily give you extra even if its just toast, cereal or snacks.

I agree in general the NHS isnt fit for purpose, the system just doesnt work. Not enough beds and those we have arent being utilised correctly (I know of a couple of patients who have been inpatients for months and months purely because the services and care they need outside the hospital just arent there).
IME though the staff in the 'trenches' are doing the best with what they have.

yes you have to push for everything - pals just placate - never get anywhere with them.

I have had numerous health issues since the age of about 15. Ive probably spent about 2 years in hospital over the past 30 years. They've always been like this. It's not labour or the tories or austerity or covid. It's just the NHS. With the exception of A&E waiting times and the now years long waiting lists for treatments.

Here are some of my "top" picks in no particular order:-

*Being on a ward and finding a pair of dirty knickers in the bathroom. Being readmitted to the same ward 3 weeks later and they are still there.

*Being 17 and put in a cupboard to sleep presumably as there was no room elsewhere. The cupboard was filled with boxes labeled shrouds

*Being placed on the Geriatric ward. Went for a shower - which had never been sealed, flooded the ward. Literally slippers floating down the room. They had to get a machine up to soak up all the water
2 years later my Granny was in that ward - the out of order sign was still on the door.
So noone had ever been washed in the disabled friendly shower.

*On the same ward their was a hideous nurse. I was quite ill. My DM left me with a fan blowing as I had a high temperature. As soon as DM left she took it away.
In the middle of the night the lady across from me fell out of bed. Hideous Nurse hadnt put up the sides of her bed. She was 104.
I went to try and help her. Pressed the buzzer. No one came
Went to try and find help
All the night staff were in bed sleeping!!!!!

• put in a complaint to PALS, the Charge nurse, management etc. Again 2 years later she was still working there.

I refused to leave my Granny on her own overnight and they soon remembered me.

*5 elderly ladies in a 6 bed bay - guess who was the 6th - Being given enemas at night then being propped up on commodes all night long.

*Being asked by the nurses to sit with an elderly confused man all evening for hours as he was meant to be on 1 to 1 care and they hadnt turned up.
I did as he was really distressed and hurting himself in the bed across from mine.
The next day I got a positive covid test, after asking for one the previous day but being told no. So I still feel like I must have killed that poor man by giving him covid.
After I tested positive I was put in another cupboard- this one didnt have shrouds for 3 days.

*having urine retention and a nurse repeatedly inserted the catheter into my vagina. The staff insisted I was not in urinary retention and was wrong that she was putting it in my vagina. Hours of arguing. 3 litres of urine after a catheter was properly placed.

*Many many people have died and the staff haven't noticed until I've told them, the worst time being when I had notified the staff. They had pulled the curtains round the bed. An hour later the family arrived to visit but they hadnt informed them that their mother was dead and they just walked in to find her.

I have so so many more of these.

Its a shit hole. Its crap. It's getting worse by the timescales you have to wait. GPs are a joke. But hospitals have always been horrendous

And I should obviously say there have been amazing nurses and I've also had amazing care.
Without the NHS me, DS and DH wouldn't be here.
But i suppose my point is that the care and cleanliness hasnt been there for 30 years - in a lot of instances
But there are so many lovely people in the NHS who have outweighed the bad.
Sometimes I think I could build an Edinburgh Fringe show on my NHS stories because if you didn't laugh you'd cry