NHS in crises - the patient

[HospitalStayNHS]

I’m experiencing a very mixed bag of services this week due to being very ill and ending up in two a&e departments (I live in two areas) and being admitted in one.
I’m writing at 1.24am as the very full ward has an 84 yr old patient possibly suffering some form a dementia, obviously I am sympathetic but having suffered almost fatal sepsis (first a&e didn’t pick this up), I could do with some rest and she is constantly pressing her buzzer and yelling out. Could she not be moved to a private room?
The NHS is clearly in total crises. The service I’ve received from second hospital has been wonderful but 8hrs in recovery, due to lack of beds then onto this noisy ward won’t make anyone better.

You expect there to be an available private room but then say the NHS is in crisis? I think you know why no private room is available.

How do you know there are any private rooms available? Usually wards only have a limited number and the priority is patients being barrier nursed due to infections.

Sounds like a shambles, OP.

No, you won't get any rest. Wards are there because there isn't money to provide proper patient accommodation where they can get some rest and privacy.

I hope you'll make a speedy and full recovery despite the hospital conditions.

Thank you. There are private rooms as I was in one last night very luckily as I’d been vomiting heavily. Not lucky vomiting, lucky to be in private room. I’m not suggesting I should still be in there as I don’t qualify but this lady is keeping the entire ward awake.

It could as easily be someone snoring keeping you all awake.

That is the norm

Every hospital admission i have ever had , has had a patient like this (and theres been ALOT)

Ask the nurse if they have ear plugs, they sometimes do

I always take my own ear plugs and eye mask, they are pre packed in my hospital bag

I’m sorry you’ve been so unwell. Hospital is the worst place for someone with dementia as it is unfamiliar and frightening. And nurses receive very little training in dealing with dementia. This is the case in even the most well resourced settings.

Sorry my post is not a criticism of someone suffering from dementia -
that is just my experience tonight.

Ear plugs.

Poor woman she’s probably terrified

There are always patients like that in hospital, always have been. Statistically the elderly are more likely to be in hospital and illness in this group cause worsening confusion.
My MIL had a woman next to her shouted "help" the whole time.
Fortunately the new hospital has single rooms in the elderly care ward.

I'm sorry you've been so unwell. Hospitals are hopeless place to get any proper rest. Hope you feel better soon

And if that poor distressed lady falls on the floor in her private room, who will come to her aid? She needs to be where people can see her.

Gosh I’m silly to be surprised by the vipers, they even gave a go on a thread like this.
Just to reiterate I am not criticising the lady with dementia, but the care system as a whole.

You're not wrong, OP. The system is failing everyone. Patients should be able to rest and recover with some degree of peace but this is rarely the case.

There should be separate wards for dementia patients (speaking as someone who cared for a family member with advanced dementia) not only for the sake of other patients but for their own dignity and safety. But of course, until the NHS treats it's staff properly it will always have resourcing issues. (I do not believe the NHS is underfunded - it's a black hole of money and many issues could be sorted if decent waste management and procurement were properly managed).

I hope you are able to go home soon and you recover well. I sympathise completely.

You were in the side room because you were vomiting and you could have had norovirus or another easily transmissible virus that would have spread through the other patients like wildfire. Now that has been ruled out you are back on the main ward. Side rooms are usually used for infection control purposes, so if the possibly demented elderly lady doesn't have that kind of infection she won't be moved into the side room.

Having said that, I feel your pain. Being in hospital is exhausting. Moving patients in and out of the ward overnight, distressed or confused patients, staff chatting, etc. over night, then being woken up for obs before breakfast, other patients visitors, other patients televisions, being moved yourself or being taken for tests, it's non stop!

Hospitals still aren't set up for dementia patients it's a disgrace. I see things haven't changed since my lovely mum with dementia was admitted to hospital a few years ago and was basically left to her own devices so much so that she wondered out if the ward and out the hospital.

I sympathise OP. I was in a ward having had an op for a fractured ankle and the nurses moved a lady with dementia INTO our ward from a private one. They said "she liked company". The lady kept us awake all night calling out for the nurses, who generally ignored her.

I can’t see any viper-ish comments.

No one has yet queried how you can recently have been close to death and yet somehow able to type on Mumsnet.

Private rooms will be prioritised on need. They go to help who are infectious or who are dying.

It’s probably more dangerous for a confused, elderly woman to be in a private room on her own. Most private rooms don’t have good visibility & she could fall or injure herself & staff wouldn’t be able to consistently see her.

Fully agree. I have been in this situation OP and think that nurses see the likes of you as an extra pair of eyes on the dementia patient. That’s the main reason both of you are put together. Means they don’t need to always keep such a close eye on her. It’s not great for you though. Reasons like this are why you’ll get so much better when you get home.

Hi OP as a nurse I can sympathise with your situation and you are totally right it is an absolute shambles. I often say hospitals are generally good when you are critically unwell but they are no place to recover. If anything they make you more unwell. Mental health is severely affected on wards.

Just to explain a few points we do indeed have training to care for patients with dementia, we just don't have the resources to provide adequate care for them, when we have clinically unwell patients to care for too.
We do have wards that take these patients, but, of course that is full so they are placed wherever there is a bed.
Side rooms are an absolute premium either for infectious/dying or reverse barrier nurse patients.
The NHS is not under-resourced, it is badly managed and money spent on the wrong things. We tend not to place patients with dementia in side rooms as then we would need a staff member to sit with them and we never have enough staff as they are moved to nurse patients in corridors or escalation areas as there are not enough beds to meet demand.

I took a student nurse to one of these areas the other day and she described it as a war zone.
Tips to maintain your sanity earplugs/headphones and music. You could ask the drs for a sleeping tablet. Keep yourself moving, and keep an eye that you are getting your antibiotics and pain relief if you are taking them, so you can get out ASAP.
Honestly us nurses get it we really feel for our patients in these situations it is like a special form torture.
Get well soon.

Because I’ve had emergency surgery, masses of high dose IV AB so far. I’ll be here over a week. Thanks for your insanely viperish comment. You should be ashamed. Posting on Mumsnet isn’t particularly onerous.

As for the more helpful comments, thank you, it’s reality and I hope we’ll all get the care we obviously need. It’s never so bad in daylight.

It was a joke OP! Glad you are feeling a bit better

@MyKidsAreTooNoisy sorry lol,
humour seems to have bypassed me this week 🤣