I run a large ward at the northern general..........and I am gobsmacked at the attitude of patient s and more importantly their visitors...........
examples of bad behaviour over the last month or so
include

visitors drinking alcohol pops on the ward,( and sneaking them to a patient who was not allowed them due to certain medication)

a visitor lying on a made up bed ( the patient was just about to be admitted) and she refused to get off!! saying she was comfortable

visitors walking on the ward at 9 am demanding to visit their relative

rude abusing behaviour to staff

relatives smoking on an out door area outside the ward which has been planted out by nursing staff, stubbing fags out on the plants!!

vitotors demanding to bring in dvd and video for their relatives dispite the fact that health and safety rules

visitors using mobile phones contantly in restrictive areas dispite being asked politely not to.


I could go on.... I have been a nurse over 20 years and am sickened by the attitude of many the visit a hospital ward and treat it like a hotel room!!

am I GETTING OLD???

No your not. I work in an x-ray department and I notice the behaviour of a MINORITY of patients and their families toward staff is abominable.

People demanding to be seen even though there are ill people and emergencies who are taking priority.
The vast majority of people are very patient, but its the minority who are just complete tossers i'm afraid, especially on a friday and saturday night.

We deserve to work without fear of intimidation, we're there to help people after all/

No I don't think your getting old I think people just don't care anymore, it seems the norm now to be disrespectful and treat people like garbage. Also have no respect for the older generation.:(

yes I feel old and at 42 should I?

certain people, and perhaps this sounds snobby ( if so, I dont care) from less affluent areas shall we say, have a complete disregard for the professionalism and status of nurses...

we are treated like skivvies by people who should be dont know better

I've found that these people you refer to are often the most polite and respectful toward me. Its the more middle class sort of people who have the worst attitude toward staff. Its as if they are above having to wait to be seen, that they have some sort of right to be treated better than normal people.

Noooo.....at 42 you shouldn't feel old!

I'm 43 and although I probably age the people around me, 42 is not old, that's just hitting your stride!

People are increasingly disrespectful and selfish, and I guess you probably get a lot of this behaviour when people are more stressed than usual - there, I'm trying to give the slobs the benefit of the doubt....:)

I've worked in the CSUH on and off over the years and seen soem terrible behaviour there - I guess that we just have to get used to it...:(

Joe

I am only talking in general terms, some people are lovely....

perhaps after 20 years experiance, a degree, 4 post basic courses,and fifty staff to manage on pay that compared to a friend who is a copper and managers 5 staff, is laughable..... being told by a relative to "get 'im a sandwich and cup of tea as he was starvin'" only a few minutes ago.....I am lightly biased......................

I totally agree. NHS workers are always the poor relations in the public sector. People think we don't deserve it even though I spent 3 years training being totally skint. We do work that is often demanding and stressful. We deserve better.

Nez75,Iwas wondering how you come to the conclusion that as you say it's the Middle class types that are a problem,how is this.

Originally posted by crowefan
am I GETTING OLD???

Nope, its just the state of the nation. The whole country appears to be full of selfish ba**ards who will quote chapter and verse on their "rights" but dont give a s**t for anything else. :rant:

Its tragic, lots of public-sector professionals (id put teachers and nursing staff at the top of the list) cop for this kind of nonsense. :rant:

Its a lack of good manners and just some damn consideration for the hard work people do for very little (financial) reward. Maybe im becoming a grumpy facist in MY old age, but i cant help feeling that this rude minority could really use a proper slap to sort them out!:rant:

:rant: :rant: :rant:







phew! spleen safely vented - anyone for a cuppa?

think crowfan is talking sence in the first post but saying "people in less affluent areas" is a bit harsh my mother lives in a " less affluent area" and has been in the nhs for more than 20 years and run very large wards in the ngh to a standard which really couldnt be surpassed

no good having a go at nez they are right these middle class are not really. thats why they are at a national health hospital they think they deserve priority service as they are or usually think they are middle class (so what) you get in the queue like everyone else who is entitled to be there instead of kicking off they are lots of reasons as to why the nhs is streatched which i wont go into on here but these people are just me me me

send em to bupa oh no they will just get a complication and then they will end up at the nhs anyhow

hi i work at northen and i have noticed that they expect you to wait hand and foot on there visitors , they think we are there just for them ....... we do have other people to look after ...
and may i add that we do not cook the meals to if you have a crummy meal dont blame me thank you

A lot of the behaviour is about respect. Some people simply do not respect others, for a variety of reasons. I've seen young people being disrespectful to older people and older people being disrespectful to young people.

I've experienced 'bad manners' from people young and old, irrespective of class.

The only way to change the downward spiral in this behaviour is for each of us to be responsible for our own behaviour. I try to treat everyone with respect, that way I am more likely to receive the same treatment in return. Of course some people do not respond, but hopefully they will see the correct way to behave enough times and learn from it. OK i'm an optomist but isn't that the best way to be?

I was in Hosital for a month from april to may and i have to say i was in a state and i didn't find the nurses helpful one bit. TBH i think i was neglected. I was left on my own all the time, when i rang for help it took nurses about 10 minutes to answer and this was at night. I remeber one night i heard them say they cant wait to watch eastenders and they'd just **** off for half an hour leaving patients in agony.

After seeing this my parents have lost faith in the NHS and as soon as i am on a full time wage im gonna subscribe to bupa or something. So before you have a go at patients and families who only care about there loved ones i'd think about the nurses (not all i must stress just a minority) who neglect their patients.

just to say as well from working at the hospital with the staff being so short most of the the nurses and other mebers of staff have been driven to tears for hard work doing what should be done by double the staff do you really think that they need all the cr*P that people give them for doing there jobs and maybe two more peoples work

My sister is a nurse and so are a couple of my friends. My mum was a nurse all her working life (now retired) so I have heard a lot from their perspective.

I had the misfortune to be addmitted to the Hallamshire (quite a while ago now) and did not find any of the nurses to be particularly friendly or helpful.

One night it was really cold (I don't usually feel the cold so it must have been freezing for me to get cold). We were all only allowed one blanket. I was worried about the old lady opposite me and asked her if she was cold I also felt her hand and she was freezing. So I went to the nurses station and asked if there were any spare blankets - I was told quite abruptly 'no' make do with what you've got. I then explained that it wasn't for me but for the old lady and they agreed to try to find one. Each day food was left for the old lady and I ended up helping her feed herself because she couldn't manage. When I was discharged the old lady was still there and I felt so sorry to be leaving her because I was genuinely worried about her. I mentioned this to the nurses and hope they were able to help. I think the current system does nothing to help either patients or nurses. There was a time when auxillaries (?) and SEN's did some of the more mundane tasks freeing up the SRN's and senior nurses for the more responsible tasks. Surely there should be a level of nurse who doesn't need to study for 3+ years who could take over the more every day 'caring' role? Thus freeing up the highly qualified and trained nurses to use their skills more effectively?

Originally posted by nez75
I've found that these people you refer to are often the most polite and respectful toward me. Its the more middle class sort of people who have the worst attitude toward staff. Its as if they are above having to wait to be seen, that they have some sort of right to be treated better than normal people.

Define "middle class sort" and "normal people". Personally I think you're talking complete twaddle.

Not to step over any local toes here but I have to say that respect is a two way street...

I was up visiting a friend in hospital with suspected encephalitus, in a Newcastle hospital and noted a number of situations where nursing staff would treat patients with lip service and ignore repeated, patient requests for assistance or medication that their notes said were available to them... Old patients especially were treated like imbeciles when they were anything but...

On a personal note I spent 8 hours observing my friend suffer over 15 petite mal and mild grand mal seizures which I duly noted duration, frequency and severity of each... Passing the information on was an exercise in futility as the look of boredom and inattention bordered on contempt. I've spent years working with epilepsy and I knew my friends medical history.. This was new and they were taking no notice of any of the information.


Like I said though, it does cut both ways and I've plenty of friends who work in a variety of medical roles from admin, through nursing/doctor to Operations management and they have plenty of examples of plain dangerous behaviour and rudeness from patients and visitors alike.

People eh? :gag: :loopy:

Originally posted by 367squadron
I was in Hosital for a month from april to may and i have to say i was in a state and i didn't find the nurses helpful one bit. TBH i think i was neglected. I was left on my own all the time, when i rang for help it took nurses about 10 minutes to answer and this was at night. I remeber one night i heard them say they cant wait to watch eastenders and they'd just **** off for half an hour leaving patients in agony.

After seeing this my parents have lost faith in the NHS and as soon as i am on a full time wage im gonna subscribe to bupa or something. So before you have a go at patients and families who only care about there loved ones i'd think about the nurses (not all i must stress just a minority) who neglect their patients.

I've had 3 loooong stays in hospital this year and although some of the nurses are really nice there are a few who simply act as if they don't care. I have also noticed their attidue changes towards different patients but I thought nurse were supposed to be professionals in which they treat each patient accordingly. Alot of old patients on the ward with me were just left for hours & hours without being checked on.... poor things never ask for much. Another thing I would like to streeessssss is how annoyed I get when nurse don't let the air out of a drip before putting it in you! Alot of people have died due to an air bubble travelling round to their heart in their bloodstream. Whilst most of the nurses didn't let the air out I had one nurse during my stay who was really fussy about it & explained the right reason she should be so. Anyway I'm off for a cuppa now. Moaning over!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Originally posted by franc1987
my mums a nurse at the ngh and she works all the hours god send. I dont no about the patients treeting her bad its more like the other staff!! She was on night 6 weeks out of 8 when she moved there from rhh!! how does that make sense?! Nurses are ill payed badly treated and not respected but they still keep going and i dont no why! People SHOULD respect nurses cos youd be in a bit of a rut without them!!!
F

keep that respect for your mum i think most of the nurses work ther butts off but the respect you just shown her will keep her strong anyway :clap: :headbang:

i am disgusted at how many people use mobile phones in hospital, inc patients. ive been in both hosps and always found the staff ace, waiting times p*** me off though.

Let's face it, what you see at your hospital reflects society.
Pushy middle class types "assertively" ensuring they exercise choice, inadequate lowlife's who feel a bit better for expressing their "rights" and giving a hard time to better educated, working professionals, people relatively new to the country who expect things to be laid on a plate for them and uncaring nurses.
You will see examples of all of these groups....let's hope that they are all still in a minority.

I was having a moan cos after a long shift, various scumbag visitors ( and those NOT grief worried, stressed, depressed, anxious etc that we have to deal with and whoose behaviours are understandable)

were being very rude and disrespectful and after 7 hours of it I LOST MY SENSE OF HUMOUR......which I usually pride myself on!!

the bottom line, is that expectations of what we as nurses do for people is unrealistic....we do the best we can, and if that doesnt always include multi channel tv, thats to bad

i once knew a nurse from gyn ward - her sense of humour about womens bits had me in stitches

Originally posted by Martin_s
Old patients especially were treated like imbeciles when they were anything but...

I have to say, this is the thing that winds me up the most, although I've found it to be the lower paid and lower qualified auxilleries that seemed to talk down to their patients. I've had a number of elderly relatives in either hospitals or homes. They all regularly do the crossword (cryptic too...!) and Countdown, excersising thier minds, and are of high intellegence. However, these people speak to them like the "silly elderly person" that they think they are.... I've also seen my relatives go downhill when they've been in this situation for any length of time - becoming the "stupid" person that is expected of them.

Never been in hospital myself, so can't really comment further.... they looked after my sister very well when she was in hospital.