Hi everyone, I’ve been reading the treads on here a lot recently about unrestricted visiting hours and men staying on the wards 24-7. I actually work in a maternity ward and things are truly really bad. Our managers are either not in, are hiding in the office or ignore our emails. The only way for better postnatal care is to start a campaign with the website change for example, it will then go straight to parliament if we get enough signatures. Telling our ward matrons will do nothing this is something that the government has to change. I do not want to set up the campaign myself as I’m worried about my employer punishing me for going against current systems and rules and I don’t think you can do it anonymously. Im begging someone to do this please for the patients and the staff.
I will outline the issues I’ve had just on Friday alone.
Men arguing with us because they want food & drink.. causing a scene and then the midwife in charge contradicts what we say and lets them have it because they are scared of the man or are scared of a complaint.
4 visitors for one patient outside of visiting hours, approached kindly and explained that it wasn’t visiting time etc. Given abuse by the husband saying that he is not leaving and dismissing me like a child. I explained to the midwife in charge, she spoke to them and realised that he was intimidating and told me she wasn’t going to say anything because he will definitely cause an argument with her.
Men inside the ward kitchen helping themselves to food and drink from the fridge. Kitchen should be locked so again we have a staff issue here
Man shouting in my face because I couldn’t give him a cup of tea at that moment, wife (patient) comes along after shouting abuse at me and when I tried to remove myself from the situation I was followed and ended up crying from her verbal abuse about how much better she is than me as I'm just an nhs worker. Screaming at me in the corridor and not one staff member stood up to help me while I was trying to get away from her but she kept following me.
Dirty nappies all over the place while the men just lay there on their phones. Dirty nappies on top of plates of food
Baby left alone on the bed while mum showers, nothing in place to stop the baby rolling off the bed.
Baby blanket wrapped over baby's face and when you tell the mum that it’s dangerous she looks at you like she actually couldn’t care less... you wonder will the baby be safe with her at home.
Man asleep in bed... patient sat in chair
Both man and patient asleep in hospital bed which is not really strong enough for 2
Family asking for plates and cutlery from the kitchen constantly to feed themselves and if you say no it just kicks off and you end up giving it to them to keep the peace... it’s clearly not even visiting time.. you pull back the curtain and there’s 6 of them in there! How is this a nice environment 6 of them sat around her bed eating food... while she’s recovering from birth?
Men showering and shitting in the patient bathrooms.....
Men wearing hospital gowns 😣😒 this one is just bizarre
The worst one for me personally: when you ask the patient a question and the husband answers for her... every single time like they aren’t allowed to speak for themselves. You ask a medical question.. he answers.. what food she would like.. he answers.. how many sugars in her tea.. he answers! It’s scary when a woman is so obviously controlled by her husband. She tries to choose something for dinner and is told no! ... so she’s not even allowed to choose her own dinner now. I have to stand there and fake smile pretending that it doesn’t outrage me.
It’s a nightmare every day. Plus staff bullying is horrendous. I actually don’t know why I’m still working there. It is a place of nightmares every staff member agrees with me. The men and family run the place while the managers won’t support the staff when they are abusive.
The staff are uncaring and so busy the poor mum who is alone with no family who’s legs are numb still can’t reach over to pick her crying baby up, she asks me but im not allowed because im not clinical. I promise to find someone to help but they just laugh and if they go and see her.. they aren't the most pleasant. Then she has to go through the same when she’s ready to put the baby down again. Same for her food as it’s placed out of her reach. I just wish the visitors were more respectful and more staff were hired. That is the answer.
One woman’s husband was a doctor in a ward downstairs and thought that gave them the right to 6 visitors all day every day... no one said anything as they were too intimidated. Sometimes the staff make it worse of themselves because they won’t all stick to the rules, one of us says no and the other says yes.