People need to stop knitting and donating chocolate etc our hospital!

[AuntyClockWise]

I was drafted in to help nursing staff today sort through 300 (yes, really) Easter eggs that have been donated over the past few weeks and sort these for food banks and care homes and childcare hubs. Took half a day plus lots of storage space.

A lady turned up at the hospital with 30 home made/sewn face masks. She was very angry when the main desk had to turn her away and decline the items as apparently she'd spent ages on them and had travelled a long way to get them to the hospital. Again, more time spent dealing with this person and not to mention the fact she had travelled unnecessarily.

Where has this idea come from for people to donate so much stuff to hospitals? Don't people realise that PPE has to meet a certain level of safety standard so we need to get from reliable and tested companies? Do people think that we have the space and time to deal with all the food and drinks donated?

Our hospital has put out a facebook post today to reiterate we can't accept donations like these and there are now hundreds of angry responses calling us ungrateful and that they're annoyed this wasn't said sooner as they've spent weeks knitting and sewing various things for the nurses and doctors to use on the wards.

I'm sure people are trying to be nice but why isn't common sense prevailing? Why not donate time and energy to a place which has the resources and ability to accept such donations?

Of course, I'm only able to speak for common feelings shared today in my place of work. Some other people here might say they are loving the donations.

Just wanted to suggest on here that if you are considering donating something to your local hospital, I'd suggest phoning the main desk first or sending them an email as the likelihood is that they can't accept it.

Similar thing: I wonder how on earth Captain Tom is going to cope with the 10s of thousands of birthday cards he's going to get? Again, lovely idea but the practicalities of dealing with all these cards?!

@mypoorfurbaby but tell people then, have signage, don't just not say anything and expect people to know that you don't want donations, most people assume you will be pleased to receive them. Or apply to have a bin for the food bank placed outside, which would be paid for by them and collected by them etc. Honestly, doing nothing about it and then moaning about spending ages sorting it is ridiculous, people aren't doing it to be horrible or waste time, they don't know any better. Contact the local paper to say you would prefer monetary donations, post on the local social media page saying so, that will take significantly less time than hours everyday sorting it.

Working in procurement I empathise with the PPE issue, and reporting usage and stock levels is useful, there should be a coordinated approach for finding reliable PPE from people with a delegation, it blows my mind that there isn't. Obviously not your fault, it would help and benefit you immensely, it's just shocking.

Similar thing: I wonder how on earth Captain Tom is going to cope with the 10s of thousands of birthday cards he's going to get? Again, lovely idea but the practicalities of dealing with all these cards?!

Yes I wondered this when I saw the idea, also extra for the postal workers to deal with too.

It still wouldn't take me 16 hours to get shot of easter eggs. My boss would have a fit if any of us took 2 full days to do this which is the equivalent of 4 people taking 4 hours.
I agree with you about people checking if hospitals need what they are donating by the way it must be overwhelming but seriously 16 hours of nurses time to sort eggs. You must be exaggerating surely

The worst one I saw was one encouraging people to crochet hearts*

Our hospital has been accepting these, and I've seen a staff member comment that they have started to be used. Not with the string, just little hearts, a matching colour for the patient and the loved one.

Sorry bold fail, and should say 'our local hospital' as I don't work there.

There's also a big Go Fund me and campaign about scrub bags at the moment, but can someone explain why you couldn't just use pillow cases? As people are asking for bedding etc to make them, but surely you could just use a pillow case? Then it saves time for people making them and delivering them?

Holy shit 16 hours to fix Easter eggs what were you doing tracing the original donaters. Surely eggsagerating (see what I did there)

@groundedbyboris 😂

Our hospital has been accepting these, and I've seen a staff member comment that they have started to be used. Not with the string, just little hearts, a matching colour for the patient and the loved one.

I think this is really poorly thought through. As another poster has pointed out, bereavement doesn't suddenly make you a fan of crafted tat - it seems arrogant to decide to foist these on people who have lost loved ones.

The OP explained why the sorting took so long - they actually took the trouble to find out who wanted the damn eggs. Which is the crux of the issue - a quick virtue orgasm dropping off unwanted tat as opposed to the boring due diligence of finding out what is needed and where. The fact those criticising the OP have no idea how much time it takes to do the latter rather illustrates the point.

Keep your chin up OP, you don't have to justify yourself to posters on here getting upset because their feel-good moment is actually as much use as a chocolate fireguard (or unwanted easter egg).

Vote for a goverment who will fund the NHS appropriately through taxes, donate money, or take the time to actually check what is needed and where (and it won't be pointless knitted hearts).

I think this is really poorly thought through. As another poster has pointed out, bereavement doesn't suddenly make you a fan of crafted tat - it seems arrogant to decide to foist these on people who have lost loved ones.

Only one hospital, but where SIL works families are offered the heart thing. She said it comes up when families want to send in something familiar to their loved one if they know they are dying and are told they can’t.

The crochet hearts is awful, I agree. Our families all hate that sort of twee thing so can imagine being pissed off if it came anywhere near a deceased relative because of some sort of virtue signalling on Facebook.

Plus hospital staff then have to sort it out which adds to their workload.

And the donations will get to where it's needed as I'm not sure staff at hospitals need a bloody Easter egg when they would prefer better PPE.

If people wanted to donate Easter eggs a far nicer idea which happened around our way was people left an Easter egg on the doorstep of local
People who neighbours knew were keyworkers. A far kinder and more appropriate gesture than overwhelming hospitals.

I can easily see how it took 1/2 a day to sort 300 eggs with wiping them down, boxing up, sourcing organisations who want them and then getting g them to said organisation.

The sheer doggedness of some of the responses here about why donations should be gratefully accepted is actually disgraceful as well as the petty sniping about typical public sector inefficiency. If people hadn't sent in unsolicited Easter eggs in the first place there would have been 0 staff taking 0 time to sort it all out

It's concerning to me that a hospital allowed the unwanted eggs to build up to 300 in the first place then used 4 trained staff to take 4 hours to sort them ignoring buzzers going off. 1 person could easily have dealt with this.

Do u think perhaps the hospital wasn't really counting how many unsolicited Easter eggs were appearing and bush dumping them somewhere because they had better things to be doing?

Or perhaps the head of Easter egg control was an ineffective overpaid public sector worker?

My village was asked to donate treats, drinks and equipment to ICU staff at our very large local hospital.

“Equipment”?

Were they not more specific than that? I’ve got a food processor I never use - do you think they’d want it?

I understand that the public want to help, but it’s sensible to first check with your local hospital or care home to find what they want and can use, rather than inundate them with useless stuff.
I wanted to send gifts to the staff in the Covid unit who treated me, so I checked first with the SCN as to what they would like. I already knew they would be up to their hips in chocolates and hand cream!

No good deed goes unpunished.

In my local area an ICU nurse posted on the local FB page a couple of days ago specifically requesting those knitted bands that hold face masks. The local group immediately set to with their needles (I don't knit but if I did then I'd have made some too).

I don't think you can slate the public for wanting to help - especially when it appears it is the hospitals themselves that are asking for help.

Its human nature to help within your own skill set, whether that's knitting, donating food, donating chocolate, or some other skill/trade that people have. If there are guidelines, then perhaps hospitals could publish those, and ask people to help in other ways. The general public wont be an expert on what PPE standards look like.

I understand the gift giving might not always be spot on but this post makes me quite sad to read tbh. As much as I don't want any critical care staff to spend their time sorting Easter eggs, its a real shame to see the public getting a hard time for caring.

Having signed up to the GoodSams volunteer app, and had zero alerts so far, I'd love to help with this sort of thing at a local hospital. Shame we're not being utilised.

If the hospital accepts them then you can't have a go at people donating them. Just say no. I'm sure once one canteen got too full of eggs someone would have noticed it was becoming a problem never mind 3 canteens.

The public are not getting a hard time for "caring". Just for foisting a lot of unwanted stuff on hidpitalswhichare struggling to cope then standing there expecting a pat on the back.

The answer is for people to take the time and trouble to check what is wanted/needed before investing time and money in making/buying and donating it, rather than acting on random Facebook posts or having bright ideas.

Having signed up to the GoodSams volunteer app, and had zero alerts so far, I'd love to help with this sort of thing at a local hospital. Shame we're not being utilised
It seems like an ideal thing for volunteers to handle and if someone with some organisational experience has signed up they could help to set up a network between different groups and charities in the area to improve communications and set up a social media site people can go to for up to date official information about what is needed and where to donate it.

The variety of answers on this thread alone shows that to some degree the public can’t win, they constantly (rightly so) see how much the NHS and it’s staff are struggling, can’t get to supermarkets, won’t be spending time with their families, working extra long shifts and most importantly aren’t being provided with the correct PPE. They want to help in whatever way they can, as some nurses/doctors have responded on here, a little treat like an Easter egg gave them a small lift at the end of a hard shift. Yet others say they shouldn’t clog up hospitals, shouldn’t leave home unnecessarily....they can’t win!

In this instance it seems to me the problem was the hospital not dealing with the eggs as they were given, surely even a small hospital has some recovering patients who might enjoy a little bit of chocolate, children coming through a&e and some staff desperate for a bit of a sugar rush!

There is more than just the NHS dealing with this.

The fire and police and local authority have been seriously overlooked... and they are doing an awful lot to support people. I'm more than sure a few Easter eggs at any of these places would have been welcome. I know my friends in the police have been frustrated at the focus on one service when it's taking all public services to deal with the fallout.

As for non medical trade PPE there is plenty of places who would be grateful for it. No harm in sign posting people.

I think it's lovely that people just have an innate need to help and support they shouldn't be discouraged just directed

@MrsWhites I agree the problem is the hospital accepting what they didn't want in the first place then allowing the problem to build up. If u take them people will give them. Just a no thanks we arnt accepting eggs would have done

On my local social media there have been requests for walkie talkies and video baby monitors for the maternity wards, mobile phones and donations for credit, plastic cups? for ICU, radios/ bluetooth speakers for the wards, tea, coffee , sugar, long life milk, squash etc for the staff room, hand cream, hand sanitiser, travel shower gels the list goes on. This is along with the constant media coverage of lack of ppe etc, pictures and videos of NHS staff telling how bad it is. There is no wonder that some of the general public get a feeling that hospitals have nothing and want to help. Some of these requests were made by people purporting to be NHS staff.

I know, and most of us do, that what social media shows and what is reality is often very far from the truth but for some people they just want to feel like they have helped.