Do nursing staff not wash patients anymore or change sheets?

[keepswimming38]

My daughter has been admitted to hospital with meningitis. She’s on an infectious diseases ward. I’ve been by her side most of the day for 3 days and despite her not being able to move as she is so weak, not one nurse has asked her if she wants to freshen up, have a wash, change her sheets. I’ve done it for her. Is this usual? The nurses are sat next to their little computer trolleys, or chatting at nurses station, so not all run off their feet I would say.

pop to the nurses station and say your daughter needs a wash and fresh sheets please

When I was in hospital having the dc I didn't have visitors much, just dh and the older dc for a few minutes each day so the staff did that until I could do it myself. When the dc are in hospital I stay with them so I do all the washing, sheet changes etc. I see that as my job if I am staying.

Yes but the point is that the OP shouldn't have to ask, she is entirely correct. What about people who don't have someone to advocate for them? As someone who spent a few years in and out of hospital visits with elderly parents, their care varied enormously, even between different wards in the same hospital.

👏

You can come only judge by your own experiences, but I have come to dread any contact with our local health services.
I was given some good advice many years ago by a solicitor who advised to document everything with dates, times and who you spoke to. I make a big show of looking at name badges and recording who said what. It certainly focuses nursing staff on accountability.
The PALS system really concerns me. A friend of mine kept having a procedure cancelled and a complaint to PALS resulted in a slot miraculously becoming available - but I know that was at the expense of someone else's procedure being cancelled! I can't help wondering if it's just a way of placating those who shout the loudest rather than addressing the real issues.

My Husband wasn’t given any assistance with washing or any personal care when he had major surgery.

I asked a Nurse if he could have some support with washing, and she said ‘he needs a bed bath, don’t worry I’ll sort it out.’ 5 minutes later she returned with a pack of a wet wipe type product, and announced ‘here is your bed bath.’ I said that’s a pack of wet wipes, where is the bed bath, if you’re too busy give me the bowl and jug etc and I’ll do it. I was told they don’t provide these and they only give the wet wipe products, so for the next week we ‘wiped’ him everyday. We couldn’t believe it.

My dh had day surgery in a private wing of nhs hospital, he took time to recover so stayed the night , he could barely move the next day, I asked for dry wipes to help him have a wash and the nurse just smirked and looked like I was mad trying to help him. Getting decent painkillers was a challenge, she kept telling him that patients are sent home with paracetomol the same day but presumably they still have strong analgesia still in their system from theatre. It was really disappointing to witness poor "care" at the hospital I worked in.

Sadly that’s true - I get 3rd year students who can’t take a manual BP. They get 1 session in uni. As a district nurse we do manual Bps every day. We encourage the students to practice at home on friend/relative and on each other- it’s a real skill to be able to do it

Its terrible really, why don't they get taught on the wards instead of turning up for their first shift as a 1st year expecting to join the morning drug round.

My mother, in her nineties, was on a geriatric ward in the early noughties. The bells kept going off but no one was answering them. I went to the nurses station and the answer was, there was a fault in the bell system . Not bothered about several old ladies wanting the loo! Plus, the arms on the armchair were worn and rough, and Mum’s skin was frail and transparent. We put bandages on the chair arms. We took her glasses off to clean them and were horrified to see broken sore, weeping skin where the glasses had dug in. The nurse said Mum didn’t like them taken off at night, so they stayed on all the time! To me, it seemed she so rarely had a wash. She sat out all day in the chair having been got out of bed early. She was so tired. At home she always had a nap on the bed pm. I asked why she hadn’t been doing so and she said she didn’t like to ask the nurses as they were always busy. They said she didn’t want to go on the bed. I said why didn’t you suggest that she had a rest instead of assuming. I did complain and got soothing words but nothing really changed.

I was in hospital last year. The staff were very hot on clean sheets and clean patients. Anyone not able to have a wash themselves was washed. The nurse looking after me was lovely and absolutely made sure I was clean and my bed changed.

Were there complications after her surgery? I only ask as where I had mine done patients were in the shower the morning after surgery. It was an adapted shower, a bag was put round the dressing and the little walk to the shower was considered mobility therapy with a nurse at the back and side of the patient but once in the shower you were given privacy to shower. People then went home the same day but I stayed in for 3 days due to circumstances at home with my adult son who’s autistic - it was a private hospital so I wasn’t blocking a bed.

That’s a really interesting way of hair washing. How does it work please? You sound like a great nurse.

I wouldn't personally have washed all my patients who needed help or changed their bed sheets when I was a ward nurse ( not a chance I'd have had the time). I would have delegated to one of the junior staff/ HCA 's though. Id speak to the ward manager.

Would you not even help one of your allocated patients?

Our nurses help with washes in the morning before they start the drug round.
Every patient on my ward gets a daily wash, whether that be a basin, a bath or a shower. Not everyone can get a bath or shower every day, we just don't have the time.
Sheets will be changed every other day unless requiring a change (stained or sweaty patient eg). If someone has a bath or shower they will get clean sheets.
If relatives are going to be there for hours on end we would expect them to help where they can.
We wouldn't expect relatives of a bedbound patient to do personal care. That patient should have regular care rounding for skin integrity checks too as pressures sores don't take long to materialise.

There's no need to go in all guns blazing, speak to PALS, or any of the rest of similar advice just yet, go and ask calmly if your daughter could get a wash and change of bedding. If not happy with the response ask to speak to the nurse in charge or the ward manager.

Of course, my point was I wouldn't personally have been able to wash ALL of my patients.
In nursing, you have to be able to prioritise patients and delegate appropriately. If you have ten patients and one of them is newsing a 9, that is where your focus needs to be. Similarly, if you have five patients all due IVABs at 0800am, you need to be prepping them and then checking/ administering with a second nurse. No one would have appreciated their medication being over an hour late because I'd been busy washing patients, when washing is something I could easily have delegated. The nurse should (of course) make sure that all their allocated patients who need assistance have received it. But that doesn't mean trying to do everything yourself. Sometimes it's just necessary for ward staff to work according to their skill set.

We used them for my son's hair before he was well enough to take him for showers and they are really good. You leave it on their head for a certain amount of time and when you take it off, their hair is washed! I never found his hair to be soaking wet after either which was more comfortable for him, it was just damp.

@Kirbert2 thank you. It’s mind boggling how it must work and I did wonder about the water aspect of it.

💐I hope your son’s doing well now.

They were so helpful. Especially when he was his most unwell.

He was in hospital for a very long 10 months in 2024-2025 but is doing well now thanks.

Night nurse here and I know in the morning we tend to prioritise elderly bed bound patients, esp those without relatives visiting for washing.
With a young, previously healthy patient (esp if they have relatives with them) there might have been an assumption that the relative was helping them or they could manage themselves.
I would say to anybody who is a relative or patient though dont be afraid to ask for things....even multiple times. Sometimes staff are rushed off their feet, sometimes they might genuinely forget.

(also as a technophobe it really bugs me when people complain about nurses being sat in front of the computer all the time....trust me, nobody hates being stuck in front of a computer more then I do! Id rather be actually caring for people then tapping away on a keyboard!).

There's no need to go in all guns blazing, speak to PALS, or any of the rest of similar advice just yet, go and ask calmly if your daughter could get a wash and change of bedding. If not happy with the response ask to speak to the nurse in charge or the ward manager.

Only problem is that OP did that and got a “shitty response” from the nurse she spoke to. A complaint seems justified

@henlake7 (also as a technophobe it really bugs me when people complain about nurses being sat in front of the computer all the time....trust me, nobody hates being stuck in front of a computer more then I do! Id rather be actually caring for people then tapping away on a keyboard!).

I thought they had Ward Clerks to do that clerical work? Or what we used to call "Dicks" (Data Input Clarks !)

Sadly there is literally nothing done these days that isnt input into a computer system. Drug rounds, care rounds, nursing notes, fluid charts, diet charts, skin care, wound care, etc, etc, etc.....
Sometimes it feels like you spend more time doing clerical stuff then actually nursing!
Even the HCAs will be spending a huge part of their time documenting who they washed, turned, who pooped, etc.

So please dont judge us too harshly for being attached to a computer screen. We dont have a choice these days!😆

@henlake7 So please dont judge us too harshly for being attached to a computer screen. We dont have a choice these days!😆

Hmmm. That explains a lot.
I was in hossy for a minor procedure and was due to be discharged the next day but it took until 4.pm to discharge me !
They had to book lunch for me (it was very nice actually)
I would have thought they would have wanted the bed for another person ?