I've recently been for surgery and I was a little worried about all the newspaper reports on the spread of the MRSA bug killing and maiming patients.

Fortunately everything went OK and I am very pleased with the treatment I received although a little wary whenever anyone approached me after surgery.

I haven't been in hospital for years and I couldn't help but notice the lack of hygenic practices that are taking place today.

You are attended by doctors in their everyday clothes- no clean white jackets anymore.

Some of the nurses go home in their uniforms.

Surgeons visit the bedside straight from the operating theatre.

Visitors come and go at all times, sitting on beds.

The one thing that I did notice was the cleaning staff did a good job cleaning the ward and the facilities but sadly their uniforms looked cleaner than the doctor's casual jeans etc.

I couldn't help but think that there is no wonder that bugs are being transmitted from person to person.

I'd like to read of other people's experiences and what they thinkabout modern hospital practice.

I went into the Hallamshire last October for surgery to my neck. As I have a young child my hubby and baby were allowed to stay with me in a family unit room.
It was filthy.
The table that goes across your bed had sticky ring marks on it and the last patient's id band was still on the floor!!! The floor itself was really filthy. It was carpet and hadn't been hoovered for ages.

Being worried about MRSA I'd taken loads of antiseptic wipes in and gave the room and it's en suite bathroom a massive clean before I went down to theatre!!

My Mum worked at the Royal as a domestic in the late 60s to the early 70s & you never saw rubbish piled up,the floors were clean & so were the wards.Privatisation has caused this,the cleaners do not give a toss, if they did all hospitals would be clean.

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Hi Sarah I hope your partner get's well soon,like I said it is worrying enough going into hospital having had a few op's myself without the worry of catching some bug,I have always said it does not cost a lot to keep the wards & theatres clean so why are we getting all these bugs.In yesterdays Daily Mirror it said Doctors are considering stopping wearing the traditional white coats,why if they are clean & steralised like they used to be no problem.Today it's a case of can't be bothered to change my blood spattered white coat,as soon as anything goes on a nurses uniform or doctors coat's they should be replaced asap.
My son will be going into Barnsley hospital for a op on his back,he is not worried about the op but the cleanliness of the hospital,it is crazy that's all people worried about when going in hospital the op but know it's a different ball game.All The Best.

My grandma went for surgery at the northen on her stomach in the late 70's and ended up cathing this awfull bug during her operation, she did not pull through. my mother seems to think that had she not caught the bug she would have lived much longer.

i been in hospital a few times and the last time i was there i found out that i had got mrsa from there the halamshir thay dint even tell me i had got it it was only becouse my hubby asked why i was barria nursed that thay had to tell us

My Mum worked at the Royal as a domestic in the late 60s to the early 70s & you never saw rubbish piled up,the floors were clean & so were the wards.Privatisation has caused this,the cleaners do not give a toss, if they did all hospitals would be clean.

There were also cockroaches, crickets and mice running around the wards at night in the late 70's ! - something never seen today.

Standards don't seem to be the same. I started nursing nearly thirty years ago, and it was all:-

"no uniforms outside the ward"

"hair off the collar"

"no jewellery"

"no make-up, and definitely no nail polish or false nails."

beds were washed down frequently, we used draw-sheets when making a bed(which don't seem to be used these days)

Matron ruled the roost. If you didn't meet up to her exacting standards, woe-betide you!

There were also cockroaches, crickets and mice running around the wards at night in the late 70's ! - something never seen today.

Having spent a lot of my younger day's in hospital King Edwards for 1 year I never saw anything like cockroaches, crickets or mice.but it would have been nice to have a few pet's to pass the time.LOL

A few weeks ago I cut my hand badly & went to the Barnsley District GH & although the Doctor was a nice bloke after putting stitches in my hand he took his gloves off & put butterfly stitches on my hand with his bare fingers,I was a little worried as he had just answered his mobile phone while treating me.But I was ok,but little things like that can cause infection & Doctor's & the Nursing staff must show more thought in regards to cleanliness.

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Some of the nurses go home in their uniforms.

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I've recently been living with a member of family who works in A & E on the Isle of Wight and can honestly say that she comes home in her uniform and it isn't washed during her four night shifts. I was dusgusted to learn this and think that hospitals shouldn't allow this.

My brother works at a metal fencing place in Rotherham and is stopped approx £1.50 out of his wages each week for the laundry service to his overalls, why doesn't the NHS do something simular as i'm sure overall it is cheaper to pay that than bring it home and wash it.

I've recently been living with a member of family who works in A & E on the Isle of Wight and can honestly say that she comes home in her uniform and it isn't washed during her four night shifts. I was dusgusted to learn this and think that hospitals shouldn't allow this.

This is gross, she must be popular at work. She must have stunk. Why did she only have one uniform though?


My brother works at a metal fencing place in Rotherham and is stopped approx £1.50 out of his wages each week for the laundry service to his overalls, why doesn't the NHS do something simular as i'm sure overall it is cheaper to pay that than bring it home and wash it.

The Royal Hallamshire and the Northen General do have autovalet sevices to clean the nurses uniform. If you do see nurses wearing there uniform to and from work you should challenge them.

She got 3 uniforms i think but just chooses to use the same one, she probably not very popular as i dislike her, (hope she reads thid and realises she could be the causing more illnesses than she cures)

Good to here some hospitals do have this service but maybe all should and make it compulsory for staff to use??

She got 3 uniforms i think but just chooses to use the same one, she probably not very popular as i dislike her, (hope she reads thid and realises she could be the causing more illnesses than she cures)

Good to here some hospitals do have this service but maybe all should and make it compulsory for staff to use??

She want's reporting if she is only wearing 1 uniform per week,she is a walking MRSA time bomb.

When my son was born I had to stay in Jessops for five days overall. The ward I stayed on was scrupulously clean. Although I did have a nasty wound infection, that may have been as a result of cross infection from the hands of those who operated/treated me, or it could have been an invasion of my own skin flora.

The main way to spread infection is on the hands, and a major campaign about hand cleaning within the NHS has done alot to raise awareness among staff, and hopefully help prevent the spread of infection.

Funnily enough, though the public like to complain about hospital staff being dirty beggars, very few visitors to the ward I work on remember to wash their hands before they come onto the ward, and visitors to the patients (I work on a childrens ward) often like to go from one bed to the other cuddling each others babies. If a member of the staf did this without washing their hands in between contact there would be an uproar!

With regard to uniform, well it's just a set of clothes, it doesn't have magic bacteria killing properties, of course clean uniform should be worn on each shift, but thats more from a personal hygiene point of view than anything else, the point about nurses wearing uniform home is a bit daft, after all, doctors come to work / go home in the clothes they've been wearing all day don't they? And no one thinks thats gross do they?

On the ward I work on we have a rule that for every new patient contact you wash hands, and wear a new plastic apron and gloves. I think this is unusual as most areas only wear plastic aprons if they are dealing with a patient who has a confirmed infection that needs to be isolated, and gloves if there will be definite contact with bodily fluids.
There are some procedures that are impossible to carry out wearing gloves (anything involving sticky tape for example) in these cases staff just have to be carefull that hand hygiene is scrupilous before and after the procedure.

I think there are some really good measures in place on our wards to help prevent the spread of infection. Unfortunatly the wards are so crowded and understaffed that it is things like good handwashing practice and the wearing of aprons that are rushed and hence may not be done as well as they could be.

I work as a support worker at the hallamshire I must admit I have seen members of staff going home in uniforms but it is against hospital policy. I personally change in the autovalet where they wash uniforms for you, On the ward where I work barrier care is practiced also good hand cleaning with sofiland spray our ward manager is very good on promoting good practices.We also encourage visitors not to sit on bed and chairs for patients and use hand cleaning stuff thats ready available.

it would be helpful if visitors cleaned their hands when coming onto wards but in a majority of cases this is not done

In the area where I work there is a notice behind each bed and at the ward entrance asking visitors to use the alchohol rub on their hands before entering the area, not to sit on beds or on the patients chair, to restrict visiting to 2 per bed and for children under the age of 12 to stay away. I have to say, that in general, the average hospital visitor cannot read or just doesn't care about these simple requests to attempt to restrict infection. Every single visiting time is spent asking visitors to please adhere to the simple requests made and, to be fair, most people just apologise and stick to the requests. But there are those who think that nurses and support workers are ' little Hitlers' who are hell bent on making their lives difficult by politely asking them not to lie on the beds, allow their babies and toddlers to crawl on the floor and drink out of the patients cups, and to stick to 2 visitors per bed ! You would not believe the torrents of abuse that nursing staff have to endure on a daily basis ! Strangley, it is these relatives who are the first to complain if their family member develops an infection.
Whilst I admit that hospital staff are far from perfect and standards are not as high as they should be , I believe that patients and their visitors have to also take on some of the responsibility for their welfare.
.... rant over !!!!