What Personal Help Can You Expect In Hospital?

[Jennykenny]

My husband was in hospital for 24 hours, and had to use a catheter, so was confined to bed. At no point did anyone offer him the chance to wash, not even his hands before meals. He didn't make a fuss, or mention it till he got home. Am I expecting too much? Surely this should be a priority in reducing infection.

[coccinelle]

The more of this I hear from people being in hospital and not getting attention for their daily needs (and I saw this first hand when my father was in hospital) is that it's best for a member of the family to be present whenever they can. This is NHS not sure about private in UK.

[bednobs]

speaking as a nurse, offering everyone a wash was one of the morning "jobs"
However, perhaps the nurses thought that an adult who wanted a wash could perhaps have asked for some help if they needed it. It would probably also depend on what sort of 24 hrs it was - for example if he was admitted at 11am, they may have assumed he'd already had a was, and then being discharged at 11 the next day, may have thought he'd have one at home

[SeaJayPea]

I must admit that on the occasions when I've been fitted with a catheter I've been able to get to the bathroom despite it. Unless, of course, there were other things wrong that kept me in bed. When that happened, I was washed each morning and had the alcohol gel about for other times.

[vakayu]

There's no excuse for bad hygiene,it is only natural to expect to wash hands before meals,especially in a hospital where germs are more important to keep under control,unforgiveable.Down to time factor again.

[Robinia]

I agree and I've mentioned this many times...they go on about doctors, nurses and visitors using hand gel but no one seems to bother about the hand hygeine of bedridden patients themselves.

[woofgang]

While that's not good at all, if your husband was able to speak for himself, busy staff might have thought that someone else had offered him a bowl or that he had taken himself to the washroom as most men with catheters are able to get out of bed and move around. Its not good enough though.

[emmie]

i have discovered that to ask for help rarely gets some, and that being in hospital is akin to hell. I fully sympathise.

[Jennykenny]

Thanks to all. Will follow up with the hospital.

[ummmm]

Yes Em, but you also moaned about visitors at other patients beds. I didn't spends hours at the hospital each day because I loved the company of my grumpy granddad I/we did it because we have no faith in how he would be cared for.

[rowanwitch]

The more I hear the more I realise I left nursing at the right time... I would always offer to wheel my patients to the sink or help the with at least hot washcloths soap and a towel at the bedside... Still I was a patient myself on a number of occasions and I rarely got the care I'd give to someone else....

[ayabrea38]

If it wasn't for my Hubby I would be dead now thanks to lack of hospital care.No I am not over exaggerating,I was bed bound for 5 mths after having a seizure which when he told the nurse about he was told to stop making a fuss.Dr will be along soon.Dr is with another patient.Like there is only one Dr in the whole place.
I have learnt there are good and bad nurses,but I wonder why the bad nurses are so?You don't go into nursing for the pay do you?

After a Norovirus scare we where all given little damp wipes,for our hands,but only at Lunch time?!?I don't understand.

At one point,armed with my baby wipes,after waiting over an hour for a nurse to come and change me I ended up doing a botch it job myself.When a nurse finally arrived,she told me I should of reminded them!!!

I was in hospital again recently,and even though the wards where next door but one to each other,they where worlds apart.The atmosphere was so much nicer,as where the staff,having to fight them off sometimes in the morning when it was 'wash time'. The care an elderly lady next to me who had had a massive stroke was tear jerking,the nurses chatting away to her(not to each other for a change)even though the lady was unconscious you would of thought she was wide awake trying to get a word in edgeways!

I have spent so much time in or around hospitals in the last few years that I have issues and fears,but I can do without another condescending 'apology' letter from staff who probably have never nursed in their lives and don't understand what it is like to be a nurse or a patient...at THAT hospital.

Sorry about the rant
Aya

[emmie]

yes ummm but had you been as ill as i was, and indeed the rest of the women on the eight bed ward then perhaps had some consideration, i saw little of that from staff and indeed from some of the patients families, not sure why it was necessary for some to bring in such awful smelly food, it stank the ward out, and indeed having to listen to visitors banging on at 10pm. Visitors should have defined hours to attend their loved ones, and if there are desperately ill people on a ward, end stage cancer patients, as there was on ours, and a woman who was end stage heart failure, then i would have expected that the staff would have had the situation under control, not so...

[emmie]

i didn't see any better treatment in a private hospital either for my o/h, so not just the NHS, poor treatment is poor treatment wherever you go..

[MyBlackHen]

Come along, no one has it worse than Ummmm.

[mrs.chappie]

One gripe that sticks out in my memory when my mum was very ill in hospital - she couldn't talk (due to a stroke) and many times I told the staff that she didn't like cheese. I'd turn up and see cheese sandwiches left at the side of her bed, and my mum unfed.

And before anyone says it.....yes, I did take food in for her whenever I could.