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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be shocked how much beoing in hospital is??

75 replies

lisad123 · 11/12/2008 10:11

DD2 has come home after we spent 5 days there because she had pneumonia. I am shocked how bad the bank has become over those 5 days.
They dont feed parents and I didnt want to leave her side, so lived out of the vending machines for first 3 days,and then sent sister on mircowave meals run, carpark for 5 days as i had taken dd in my car. cost of dh carpark when he visited, cost of extra's like toothpase and other washables i needed when admitted as dh didnt go home first of all. I know hospitals cant pay for fod ect, but surely they could more (like a less money grabbing shop) to help people in this situation?? AIBU??

OP posts:
boredveryverybored · 11/12/2008 10:15

It's a nightmare isn't it. My DD hasn't been in for a few years, but last time she was in we were there for a week and by the time we left I'd spent well over two weeks of my budget, and ended up having to borrow money.
I'm sure there must be more they can do, waiving car park fees for inpatients parents would be a start!

Pruners · 11/12/2008 10:16

Message withdrawn

pramspotter · 11/12/2008 10:17

It's bad. On my ward the nurses buy toiletries to keep for the patients because the hospital won't supply them. We buy lots of stuff ourselves out of our own pockets. If any of the staff goes on holiday they try to bring back as much as they can get from the hotels. Things like soap, shampoo etc.

The soup that was sent up from the kitchen last night looked like watered down chicken gravy. Really watered down. They never send up enough for the patients anyway.

RubberDuck · 11/12/2008 10:18

Not unreasonable. I think hospital carpark fees in particular are morally wrong - healthcare "free at the point of delivery"... bollocks is it.

WorzselMincepieYummage · 11/12/2008 10:19

I know what you mean and your so NBU !

I have been in and out of hospital for a few weeks as an inpatient and have 3 weekly outpatient appoitnments.. we must have spent over £100 on parking and food for me as the hospital food is completly inedible.

I am just thankfull we dont live somewhere more epensive, apparently Chelsea & Westminister hospital parking is £3.50 an hour !!

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 11/12/2008 10:19

DS2 was in hospital recently and if you collect £8 worth of car park tickets, they'll give you a pass valid for a week.

I think they fed parents if there was food left over when all the children had been fed, but I tended to go home in the evening and bring a packed lunch for myself the next day.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 11/12/2008 10:20

It's very difficult isn't it? My dd was in hossie (not our local either) for almost 3 months. I was on mat leave at the time and in nearly bankrupted us TBH.

Hope dd2 is much better lisa.

Original poster
lisad123 · 11/12/2008 10:22

I have to say tyhe nurses were brill, and at least i could go and make a tea which was donations rather than costs. they only told me on last day i was allowed food from hospital as BFing but everything on the list i wasnt allowed to eat anyways, without ending up there myself.

OP posts:
Pruners · 11/12/2008 10:22

Message withdrawn

PeachyBidsYouNadoligLlawen · 11/12/2008 10:24

Free parking here in Wales

means dh and I can affors to attend appts ytogether instead of one driving around endlessly to save cash (the one next week would have been £15 parking)- makes a diference as bus a no-go (would get tehre half an hour after appt)

Hospital canteen pretty fab too

I rember the 'old day's all too well, YANBU

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 11/12/2008 10:24

I guess they simply don't have the money to provide everything - if you add up how much it cost you and multiply that across the hospital capacity it's probably a scary amount.

morningpaper · 11/12/2008 10:27

Shame - my local hospital provided meals for any parents on the children's ward.

But apart from that, I think you are BU to be honest

My hospital car park isn't owned by the hospital - I really don't THINK that hospitals SHOULD run free car parks personally - our new one has just cost something like £25 million to build and I think it would be wrong for the NHS to pay for that sort of thing - so it was done by a private company, which charges so that it can make its money back (which was estimated as taking 20 years, even with pricey fees!). There are bus services you can take or you can walk, or park in a nearby street if you want to.

DaisyMooSteiner · 11/12/2008 10:28

When ds3 was a baby he was hospitalised and even though he was exclusively breastfed, they refused to provide me with any food at all! If I'd been on my own I would have been stuffed - he was seriously ill and I couldn't leave his side, yet they wouldn't give me anything to eat!

Agree about hospital charges - I was charged £18 once recently for less than 24 hours.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 11/12/2008 10:28

It is all down to affordability but I do think there could be more concessions for 'resident' parents; free parking, reduced price in the canteen, that sort of thing. It would cost them a whole lot more in extra staff if parents didn't stay and do alot of the child's care.

DaisyMooSteiner · 11/12/2008 10:29

hospital charges - I mean car parking at hospitals. It's actually more expensive than parking in the city centre!!

PeachyBidsYouNadoligLlawen · 11/12/2008 10:32

they need to look at the Welsh model and if that works (quite recent- April was it?) folow suit

Original poster
lisad123 · 11/12/2008 10:34

i wouldnt have minded parking elsewhere aparyt from i took dd2 to hospital on saturday in my car and parked and ran in, so no chance of free parking and even the roads outside have a 4 hour time limit or risk of fines I didnt like to put on the nurses by asking them to watch her when if i needed to grab a tea let alone a meal in canteen, especially as her alarms kept going off.

OP posts:
RubberDuck · 11/12/2008 10:34

Yep ours is about twice as expensive than parking in the city centre. Plus they made it TINY for the size of the hospital (if it WAS a private company who built it why the hell didn't they make it a multistorey - completely insane).

So not only do you have to make sure you have tons of money in cash on you to pay for the carpark, it takes you about half an hour to find a space (great when you have a kid in the back you're trying to take to A&E).

NCP cope with a multistorey in town for £1 an hour. Why didn't they get the contract for the hospital carpark?!

laweaselmys · 11/12/2008 10:36

DP has decided when I go into labour we should go to hospital on the bus to avoid the parking charges. I think he is nuts, and I'm going in a car, but he can drop me off and find somewhere else to park it!

I'm surprised about so many places charging for food though, I was in for a week last year and didn't have to pay for any food, and it was an okay quality. Not great but good enough to eat.

I lived without telly. Just borrowed asked friends to bring in some books etc.

IllegallyBrunette · 11/12/2008 10:37

I agree, yanbu. When dd2 was in hospital for a week, we spent a fortune on car parking and food.

I have just got a job at the local hospital and have been told to get my name on the car parking list sharpish. The waiting list is 4 years long.

EightiesChick · 11/12/2008 10:39

Car parking is v expensive. At our hospital (where I've been for long stretches) you can only buy a ticket for an individual visit, no discount for multiple visits. So for anyone visiting in the afternoon and the evening, you would have to pay twice or buy a really long expensive ticket. Day passes and weekly passes would really help. It's run by a company too so all for profit, not even as if the money improves the hospital!

Agree too that the food is so poor you end up spending money on more. The phone lines are an ever bigger rip off (especially alongside the lie about how you can't use mobiles on the wards when you know all the staff do). Again, if the money made went towards patient care that would at least be something but it all goes into private companies' pockets!

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 11/12/2008 10:41

Our hospital carpark has the unwritten rule that if you arrive by car in labour, you put a sign in your car stating this and just pay for 1 hour.

mrsruffallo · 11/12/2008 10:44

YABU
Most hospitals have very good transport links. Apart from the day of admittance it is not necessary to drive or have your car in the car park for a week.
They cannot afford to provide free toothpaste etc or feed visitors. You are allowed to cook at home and bring it in with you.
Why couldn't your husband drive your car home rather than it being in the car park for 5 days?

MrsHappy · 11/12/2008 10:49

It is very expensive.

My DD was in hospital for 2 weeks last year and I moved in with her. The food they offered (processed grey meat, baked beans and the like) was not nutritious and I spent a fortune on fruit for her.

Parking was the only thing that wasn't too bad. We were at Chelsea and Westminster and if you have a child on the paediatric wards they only charge you £5 per day for parking (instead of £3.50ph). If I had been on benefits if would have been a nightmare, though.

morningpaper · 11/12/2008 10:52

I am shocked at this poor hospital food thing - I didn't think that still went on.

I would be fuming. It is unacceptable. I hope you made formal complaints - there is no excuse for crap food in hospitals these days.