Theft from hospital in-patients

[zandy]

How many of you have knowledge of or experience of inpatients at hospital being stolen from?

I have an elderly neighbour who was recently in hospital and had her purse stolen from her bag almost as soon as she arrived. I have a family member who was being 'charged' for his pills.

I am shocked that these things have happened to people I know in the past couple of months. I thought hospital thefts were a much rarer thing.

It happens quite a bit, theft goes on all over the hospital. Staff have their things stolen aswell, toys/games/computer games go missing from childrens wards aswell. It's disgraceful.

I know that the Childrens Ward DS stays on quite a lot has a real problem with stealing, people steal the Wii Remotes and Games, DVD's, toys books ect. It is truley shocking what some people will stoop to and its really sad that everything has to be under lock and key.

I have spent many years in and out of hospital and have never experienced mine or DS's personal belongings being stolen.

It is rare that a patient has items stolen though to be honest. Theft of toys/games from a childrens ward happens alot more.

I thought it was rare, but to personally know two people, in different areas of the country, who have had this happen in the past two months has made me wonder.

hospitals are targeted by thieves who go into the hospitals just to steal, particularly at 'hand-over' period, when they know that the ward staff will all be sitting in the office with the door shut

IMO this kind of theft - people coming in just to steal, is much more common than patients stealing from each other or patients' relatives stealing opportunistically from other patients.

some hospitals are targeted more than others of course.

I had loads of stuff nicked when DD was in hospital. Luckily for me it was mostly our food. Some staff members where taking it. It was very upseting. We lived there pretty much. I was trying to tempt DD to eat but anything nice was nicked from the kitchen. I resorted to putting a sign in the fridge saying 'you are stealing from a child with cancer you bastards'.

Other friends had stuff nicked from their children's rooms. I have no reason to believe this was by staff. I would hate to think that . So many people wandering about in hospitals, even in paediatric wards.

Nice.

I had my handbag nicked from my hospital room when I was across the corridor having a Caesarean!

We were warned to bring in only plain supermarket vests/sleepsuits etc when having DD in our local hospital as anything else would be pinched! Shocking really.

Had my digital camera stolen when in hospital after having DD2. DH left it lying on my bed (we think) when he went home with DD1. Didn't mind about the camera (it was getting old and was quite big and clumsy) but it had all the photos taken of DD2 immediately after she was born.

If its not nailed down it gets nicked.
Hence the reason you never have tea in cups and saucers. We used to have bereavement sets once upon a time but they kept getting taken.

In fact I've even known a floor polisher to be taken. It was only the bus driver who insisted that this couldn't go on the bus that stopped it. (I think it was just being borrowed, but even so)

You have to remember that hospitals are public places, anyone can come in and out. And there are a lot of vulnerable people in hospital.

It's not a pleasant thought though.

I work on a labour ward and we no longer have any hand held dopplers to listen in to babies' heartbeats as they've all been stolen. The expensive rechargable thermometre for taking babies' temps was taken, as was the replacement. So they bought cheap £5 ones for all the rooms, these have all gone now as well.

The hospital won't buy any more thermometers. I've had to buy myself a cheap one as have most of the other staff. Mine is a cheap one from Tesco that says on the label "for home use only" but thats the only thing I've got to check if a baby is warm enough or if mum is pyrexic.

The Charging for pills would worry me. Presumably this is a member of Hospital staff who is doing the charging? If not then how can you be sure the right pills are being supplied!?

Sorry, I'm not suprised. There are truly scummy people in society who don't give a damn who they take thisngs from.

I've come across many occasions of patient property 'going missing'

I've had 3 handbags stolen from 3 different hospitals (taken from the staff changing rooms).

A large television was taken from a dayroom (thief had a pair of bolt cutters to cut through the chain).

I now take a special work bag to work which has a coin purse in it and thats abut it.

When i worked in obstetrics years ago the patients used to steal sheets, blankets, nappies, bottles of formula, baby clothes. It was endless.

The hospital I work in now has a huge problem with expensive computer equipment being stolen over the weekends - the thieves know the security codes and seem to by pass all the CCTV cameras

Also, massive screens have been removed from the walls, in locked departemtns, with bolt cutters....

Agree that people target hospitals just to come in and steal stuff - they don't care who from - patients, staff, anybody.

Charging for pills ?
What next ,charging for use of bedpan ,taking obs ,changing the bed ?
As others said ,this is even more worrying as presumably member of staff .
Report ,complain .

The family member and the pills is elderly and was in for dementia assessment so the immediate family thought his word would not be trusted - despite his daily five pounds a day disappearing - so they didn't report to he police. The friend with the handbag did report to the police, but it remains missing.

I truly had no idea there was theft on this scale. I am shocked.

my boss was a consultant aneasthatist....

she has many times had her clothes stolen while she has been in theatre (in those pyjama type suits), once someone stole her skirt

I work in a school - we've been targeted more times than I care to remember. Thieves must know the place is teeming with hi-tech equipment.
Depressingly, it's usually our ex-pupils who are the culprits, they know the layout and where things are kept.
Makes me sick really.

My uncle, who was incapacitated after a major stroke (and later died), had his wallet nicked a couple of months back. He probably watched it happen but couldn't do anything about it.

My Mum is a nurse and one of the nurses she worked with was caught taking money from a patients purse, £20 which she claimed she was borrowing for a taxi home.

The nurse was suspended but then not sacked as she claimed she was being bullied because of her race. The trust were to chicken to sack her.

It's inbelievable isn't it.

Someone stole my Harry Potter book while I was busy have my ceasearean section. I was fucking pissed off.

nannyl lady doctors do tend to wear rather nice skirts.

Its something me and DD would often comment upon.

No excuse for nicking them obviously

Good point about hospitals being public spaces - don't leave anything on your bed space that you wouldn't leave on your train seat when you go for a wander!

I worked in a hospital as a health care assistant for a few years. Quite often people would go through other people's lockers, put on their clothes etc because they had mental health problems. Sometimes there were 2 staff with 18 patients. We couldn't watch them 24 hours a day and it happened a lot. Also it's impossible to tell who's a genuine visitor or opportunist thief. Some patients are thieves. Just don't take anything valuable into hospital with you.

My neighbour had a check stolen, the idiot permantly employed nurse (ie not agency!) forged it and cashed it into his account. It was for several thousande, clearly the nurse thought she was going to die and get away with it how many times had he done it before!