Should I complain about this nurse

[AprilF00L]

or just let it go?

My very vulnerable, very elderly neighbour fell in his house recently and was treated in his home by paramedics.

Today as I was rushing out to an appointment a district nurse approached me and said that she was there to visit my neighbour but he wasn't in/ This really alarmed me due to his vulnerabilities and physical state. I asked if she'd looked in all the rooms and she said she had. I got her phone number to contact her after my appt.

On my return an hour later I came across her again. She told me that she had returned to see if my neighbour had returned home.

He'd never been out. He was sleeping in bed. She lied. She hadn't looked in every room. He could have been dead for all she knew.7

I'm so annoyed at her lying. So unprofessional. AIBU to report her.

Right? Clearly no one on this post has ever been or known a vulnerable person being let down and put in danger because of lazy medical staff or carers who can't be bothered. Unbelievable to call OP a nasty person because she is looking out for her clearly very vulnerable neighbour and trying to make sure he is not being neglected. Apparently standing up for the vulnerable and caring for your neighbour makes you a deeply unpleasant busybody. No wonder people end up dead in their houses undiscovered for years...

As a community nurse myself, there are SO many reasons this nurse could have acted the way she did. None of which are her being lazy or not doing her job properly, as you are alluding to OP. You say she was flustered when you saw her again - probably due to the horrendous number of patients she is expected to get round to in her shift, all whilst working through her break and not drinking or peeing all day because she puts her patients first!

It is certainly worth flagging this. If any of the reasons that people are providing here are the case and justify her not having found him then her managers can identify that and consider whether there changes needed (or not). If there isn’t a good reason her managers can take the appropriate action - whether that’s words of advice or something more serious, and there will be a trail that can be referred to if similar issues happen with other patients.

Carers and NHS nurses use completely different systems. An NHS nurse would not have a keysafe number like home carers would.

NHS nurses do have key safe numbers, a lot of patients can’t get up to answer the door.

Can you clarify which of your versions is the correct one so we can respond appropriately? Version 1- nothing wrong. Sounds like a good nurse and very caring as she returned. She was concerned and approached you to check.
Version 2- very different to the first one and sounds like she rushed and neglected a vulnerable patient

Jesus do you want to hang her out to dry?

Ok, so district nurse here! I just want to clear a few things up.

Firstly, those that have said to report to NMC. That is a little OTT. However, she should at least be reported to her line manager to prevent this from happening again as it unacceptable.

As a district nurse we have a duty of care to ensure the patient we are visiting is safe and we have to check on their well being if we are unable to gain access. We are allowed to gain access using a key safe if it is available. If there is one present but we dont have the number we need to gather this information from NOK, carers, neighbours etc etc. If we are unable to gain access via a key safe we will use the designates contact number to contact the patient. If this fails NOK should be contacted to check on the well being of the patient. Are they in hospital? An alternative placement etc. These will not always be communicated to us. If we are unable to locate patient or gain access then the police would be called to gain access. We should never leave a patient unlocated. Yes, we can visit and revisit later on however, we have to ensure the safety of the patient by the end of the working day.

If we have managed to gain access then all rooms should be checked, all doors opened and the garden checked. If this is done effevtively then it is very difficult to miss a person in their own home unless they are hiding in the loft!!

My advice, find out the nurses work place and report it to the team leader.

Not when it's a newly assigned case following hospital discharge. I worked in the community for many years for the NHS - very rarely did we have a keysafe number at initial visit.

Think im the only one on the OPs side. I don’t know why everyone keeps saying she didn’t have the code, the OP said she did and went in the property twice, unless I have misread.

Some of the carers and nurses were fucking useless with my nana, not bothered to come more than one. Also came and claimed she wasn’t in and had checked every room, she had also been in bed the entire time. I would report.

Sounds to me like she was trying to skip this guy’s house and only came back because you saw her. I would report her.

The biggest thing that jumps out at me from your post @AprilF00L , is does this person have enough care visits a day if they are so vulnerable ? Are they getting four visits a day, do they have family visiting ? Are they safe being left over night ? is being cared for at home the most appropriate or safest setting for them, if you are as worried about their well-being as you appear to be ?
Remember the community nurses might only be visiting once a week for simple wound care, such as a minor skin tear following a fall.

Read her username guys

She may not have been given the key safe number. And key safe numbers are not always automatically on patient notes.
She also returned to check he was ok. She hadn't forgotten him or abandoned him.
She probably had a list of visits as long as her arm with not enough time to see everyone, let alone get all the notes nurses are required by law to complete otherwise they are penalised. And then the ordering of medication and equipment and referrals that also have to be done, often in nurses own time, unpaid. She probably thought she'd see the other patients she had scheduled and return. And she did return.
I'm struggling to see what the problem is here. I mean, by all means report her if you're feeling particularly vindictive. But as no harm came to the patient and she returned to check on him, I highly doubt anything will happen.

How did she get into his property?

I work as a carer in the community, I've had instances before where I've knocked on the door and had no reply, but I've never been to that person before. I've then looked through windows, not been able to see anything, so have gone to my car, phoned my office, checked whether that person should be able to answer the door (just because they have a keysafe, doesn't mean they want you letting yourself in on the regular) checked that they might have been admitted to hospital. My boss might say, actually this earlier than usual, come back a bit later. You just don't know the ins and outs of a situation.

As an NHS nurse myself who visits patients in their homes I can tell you we absolutely do not always have the keysafe code. They are not readily available and I often have to call families to get the number when at the house. I honestly can't see why she would deliberately lie just to come back? This nurse probably had a huge list of patients to see that day and she found time to come back again. I hardly think this warrants a complaint!!

Don’t be daft.

If you were that concerned you would have checked on them yourselves.Maybe get a hobby instead of insulting hard working nurses

I’m a nurse too, and used to work in the community (although not any more).
I’m struggling to see what there is to report. The nurse came back, and saw the man.
Certainly when I was in the community it wasn’t totally unusual that somebody was out at a hospital appointment or day centre, and the message hadn’t made its way along the chain. If you called the police every time you couldn’t gain access, you wouldn’t be doing much else.

Do we know that she was familiar with the patient? She might have been covering staffing and didn’t have the key safe number, that happened to me. If anything it sounds like she did a good job, and she’s going to get a complaint made about her.

Missing the point I know but maybe he needs to rethink the townhouse if his mobility is that bad!!

I think what happened is that a medical professional was going about her work when she was approached in the street by a nosey busybody (you OP) asking for confidential medical information. She faffed a response to avoid answering you and to avoid breaching GDPR.

She came back later (as she said she would) and the nosey busybody was back again asking nosey questions and she thought FML!!

You really want to report her don't you?

Quite!

I think you’re being a bit harsh. There might be safeguarding reasons why she is concerned about going into his bedroom or she might have just made a mistake. Either way she was diligent enough to come back.