Fellow Patient in Hospital Being a Twat

[MamaNewtNewt]

My sister is currently in hospital and the patient in the bed next to her keeps spraying a really strong smelling body spray. It's so strong, and she's spraying so frequently, that people can smell it in the corridor.

It's at the point where my sister is finding it hard to breath so my Mum asked the nurse if she could discreetly ask the patient not to spray so often. Instead the nurse came in and mentioned it really loudly, making it clear that it was my sister who wasn't happy.

Since then the other patient has been spraying the body spray even more, and tonight it's so bad that it made my sister vomit. At which the point the other patient laughed and sprayed the body spray again! We've spoken with the nurse again and she's said there's nothing they can do as they can't stop people spraying and there's no option to move either of them.

Im just looking for some advice on what we can do. My sister is ill enough without having to deal with this. Surely this comes under anti-social behaviour and the hospital will have guidelines on this as this woman is now actively enjoying making my sister feel ill.

No advice but that sounds awful.

Contact PALS for help.

Ask to speak to the ward manager/sister or duty manager

No advice but I sympathise. When I was in hospital years ago for several nights on a ward, there was a dementia patient next to me who would scream all night and there was nothing the nurses could do.

It was about 7-8 years ago now but I still remember being so angry, and in pain, and tired.

I'm really allergic to sprays. I've been in hospital before because of being so ill from it. I'd be fucking livid at the staff for not doing something about it - they SHOULD stop people fucking spraying in a fucking hospital ward ffs

Is your sister able to get out of bed? I’d be very tempted next time to accidentally vomit on the other patient’s bed or possessions.

Jesus wept,of course they can ask her to stop spraying,what a cop out! That could trigger an asthma attack ffs. It's already made your sister sick,they have a duty of care to make sure patients are safe ffs. Ward manager as suggested by a pp.

Thanks all. I'll try PALS and the Ward Manager / Senior nurse tomorrow.

If that doesn't work then the vomiting on her bed sounds like a good option 😉

I had someone in the bed next to me last year who was annoyed at no-one coming to help her as much as I was getting help. I'm not sure what was wrong with her but I had been cut right down my middle had 22 staples holding me together, half my intestines removed a few days before and had sepsis. I was just out of high dependency. I was quite ill and not able to do much.
Anyway this patient felt that me getting supported to get to the loo was unfair so she came over and pissed on my slippers beside my bed.
She wasn't removed either. I was terrified to sleep, wondering what she would do next.
Luckily, the slipper pisser was moved shortly afterwards. I hope the same thing happens in your sister's case.

You can do something.
Sp[eak to the senior ward nurse and say you wish to make a formal complaint recorded in the ward book, about A) the enviromental impact of this spray and B) the poor handling of your objection by NAMED nurse (with details).

Of course nurses can stop a patient doing anything that makes others ill ; they would not permit smoking, vaping, loud music.

I thought sprays weren't allowed as they can set off the sensors (fire) or is that in a smaller space than a ward?

We weren't even allowed sprays at school for PE in case it triggered an asthma attack. Can't believe they let this happen in a hospital, what a nightmare!

To be fair, hospital wards so frequently stink of urine, faeces and disgusting food, I’d be tempted to spray perfume all around myself too.

She can make a fuss tonight and get it sorted. Or you can, on her behalf. There will be a senior nurse manager on duty for the whole hospital and this kind of thing absolutely can be escalated to them to sort out.

At the trust I work in there is a separate phone number for complaints when you are in hospital right now, like this situation with your sister.

What a ridiculous situation. I am tempted to suggest waiting until she's asleep and stealing the spray can or bottle but the staff are being unprofessional in ignoring the issue.

Of course the y can say something to the patient, they just don’t fancy her kicking off with them, so would rather your sister suffer instead. Please complain.

A consultant advised us once that you should ask for information to be put in the patient notes if you feel staff aren't listening to you. So you could ask them to put in your DSIS' notes that she vomited after the spraying and that she'd previously requested they ask the patient to stop spraying but the patient continued to do so. tbh it's usually important to know why a patient is vomiting so it would be beneficial for it to be clear in her notes that she feels it was aggravated by the spraying.

Oh ffs, you can’t bring flowers in to some wards as they are known allergens. Surely the nurse can ask Ms Stink to jam it.

Get a grip @MamaNewtNewt FFS fresh flowers aren't even allowed in UK. What country are you in? 💡

Rude

We can ask people to stop spraying but there isn't much else we can do. We'd get the site matron to speak to them if they continued. But not sure how we can actually stop it. Unfortunately I don't think we would be allowed to confiscate it as it's their property.

Smoking abs baking is against hospital policy. There probably isn't one for too much spraying.

Vaping. Not baking.

Sprays are banned in some hospitals, even if not they could definitely ask her to stop spraying it!
I would ask to speak to the ward manager or matron, they might not be in until Monday but hopefully asking for this could prompt someone to do something about it.

If she sprays it when you're there, fucking take it off her the second she puts it down. Take it to the nearest loo and squirt it down the loo until the bottle is empty. Then she can have it back. Rude people will continue to be rude until someone stands up to them. If she's so ill she won't be able to chase you.