Soiled Pyjamas.

[Tilly2]

My dad has been in hospital for two weeks and for the first week and a half was wearing hospital gowns and pyjamas. Twice, this week, he was wearing his own pyjamas.
When I went today, he was back to wearing just a gown. As i left it occured to me that his own pyjamas might need washing so I went to his bedside cupboard and found them, via the smell, stuffed inside a plastic bag.

I brought them home, donned some rubber gloves and put them in the washing machine along with loads of disinfectant and biological powder.

Is it common practice to leave soiled nightwear in bedside cabinets? Should I complain? It can't be right, surely.

Any experience of this anyone?

[gness]

I don't know, Tilly.....but I adopted a few....it's sad to be in hospital with nobody to visit...but worse....it's scary because we need a fit and feisty person to fight our corner and that is so bloody wrong!

Wow.....six+ years on and you can tell it still rankles.....☺

[ladyalex]

People who have no one to visit them have to have hospital pyjamas and gowns which the hospital then launders.

[gness]

Gosh...you're bringing back memories.....the blind lady who was given a menu to fill in once a day....with no-one who would help unless I was there at the time....x

[boxtops]

It's normal practice though, tilly, if patients wear their own clothes - I don't see that complaining would make any difference. It seems common to many hospitals. they can't wash them in the hospital, the items belong to the patient.

[Tilly2]

Gness, as my dad has been asleep or uncommunicative most of the time, I have been talking to the chap in the next bed, who had no visitors. He died on Thursday.

[Psybbo]

Tilly, to be honest, I don't think it's worth kicking up a fuss. We are expected to know we have to take the laundry home. After hospital, my mother went to a recovery home for 8 days and they put her laundry in a bag marked 'patient's clothing'.

[corylus]

It needn't be a snotty/complaining letter, just list (reasonably) what you have experienced about you and your dad's experience. A disciplinary investigation will have to take place.

[Tilly2]

Boxy, my complaint will be about the fact that no one told me he had soiled nightwear in his locker.

[jennyjoan]

Don't take this the wrong way Tilly but did you not wonder where your Dad's clothing was.

[jennyjoan]

It is many years now but when I visited mum - it was an automatic thing - I took the nightdresses home and left her fresh ones every day.

[boxtops]

corylus, it won't be disciplinary - nobody's been negligent, this is normal practice, to place patients' own clothing in a plastic bag pending it being taken away for laundering.

[shaneystar2]

Did you need telling ? Why didn't you just look in the locker in case there was anything that needed washing .
Surely if you sent him in with pj's it must have occured to you that they would need be taken home and washed at some stage .
I think the nursing staff have enough to do without having to run about telling visitors there's dirty stuff to be washed .

[corylus]

Surely she should have been told about the soiled clothing Boxtops.

[Jeza]

When Mic was in hospital, his mainly shirts we put in a bag in his locker. They were wet not soiled. He was often changed 5 or 6 times a day so I needed to keep a good supply there. His really good ones disappeared. When I asked about it a sign was pointed out to me about no responsibility taken for patients possessions.

[gness]

Conne...it takes a while to become an experienced hospital visitor...an early on chat about procedures would go a long way....especially when your mind is elsewhere.

I don't know how old Grandma Yiddo is or when she retired but for me many of the problems came about because young girls entering the profession didn't seem to want to do basic nursing and care...and that means communicating with relatives.

No-one is complaining about washing clothes....just bag them in a hygienic manner and tell us.

Yes, Tilly...bring it to their attention...things were changed when I did with my mum.

[237SJ]

I would expect the hospital laundry is outsourced and is sent off somewhere to be washed. How would they know who`s PJs were who`s if they washed the patients` clothes as well? Did you ask where your Dad`s PJs were when you could see that he wasn`t wearing them?

[gness]

Shaney...for me that comes under basic nursing care....as I said...it takes a while with everything else that is going on for things to dawn on some of us....and more than one of us on here has had unbagged soiled clothing.

That is not acceptable.

[jennyjoan]

Gness - there would be nobody as hospital-experienced as myself. My mother must have been in every ward in the hospital.

Between falls, diabetes, and finally cancer. But I still made sure her laundry was kept up to date. One needs to trust one's instinct. I didn't depend on nurses etc to inform me - just got on with it.

[gness]

No-one is asking the hospital to do our washing....just to say...your ???s soiled clothes will be bagged and placed in the locker...

To start going through the locker and put your hand in your Mum's poo is not a good start to a day.

[gness]

Then you are a better woman than I, Conne.